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I have never bothered with any type of beans previously but am now looking to sow some next year.  I have narrowed down to 3 varieties but would like opinions before making a final decision.  At the moment Sprite would be favourite because they are the only one of the three that say is good for freezing.

Cobra - A climbing variety
Safari - A bush variety
Sprite - A bush variety.

Opinions please ???

I don't really know what a "French" bean is but last summer convinced me
that purple pole beans produce earlier and more continuously than the green.
Also, and best, they produced in a partly shady area. The bean turns green
when cooked and tasted fine. So no more green pole beans for me just
"Trionfo Violetto Romano" bean.

I've used Cobra for the last three years, we think they are really tasty.  I also used Speedy for extra early dwarf beans, they are much earlier, and quite OK, and a couple of years ago we had Pongo (from Marshalls) which are sown in late summer and produce well into October.  Extends the season pretty well, and less to go in the freezer.

Cobra is a very good bean. We grew it this year. Cherokee Trail of Tears is also a good climbing bean.
Safari is one of Jeannine's recommendations I think, though we haven't grown it.
Purple Teepee (dwarf) cropped with us for ages, though we only grow the dwarf ones for a very early and a very late crop.
We freeze all our French beans. Why is Sprite especially good? ~ i'll look it up

Of the 5 I grow, the 2 I'd recommend are Purple Teepee for bush, and Blue Lake for a climber. Both are prolific and tasty.

The others this year were Lingua di Fuoccia (I think!) climber and very tasty but not so prolific, Goldfield (climber), pretty poor tbh and Tendergreen bush, went ott a bit too soon for my liking.

I will be trying Cobra next year too, maybe instead of Goldfield.  :)

Cobra are brilliant - very tasty & very productive, often well into November. Personally, I don't bother with the dwarf beans any more: they hang onto the ground and get dirty & mis-shapen, and it's very easy to miss some. The climbing ones give a far greater return for the space as well, and you can pick them standing up! (Increasingly important for me - I can still get down there, but getting up again takes a bit longer than it used to!)

So for purple beans, I grow Blauhilde, and Neckar Gold for the yellow. Also Cherokee Trail of Tears, which is an all-purpose bean: eat green, or as fresh podded, or to dry for the winter. And Borlotti, of course, for drying - they look stunning, too.

A wigwam of each, plus a couple of wigwams of runners does us very well. But we don't like them frozen.

I think, like many things, it depends where you live and the soil.


In the Midlands, I've grown Cobra  for five years now. Years 1,2&3 were good, especially Y3. But the last two have been disappointing. I thnk this is due to the lack of warm & sunny weather. #

I was once told that climbing beans are also called French beans because thats the weather they need.
Hence I always grow runners (White Lady) alongside Cobra. Three years ago was a real scorcher, the runners flowers werent setting  due to the heat, but the french were a bumper year.

That's the advantage of growing several different sorts. At any point, you'll get at least one kind cropping well. (Same applies to courgettes - one week the green ones do well, another week the yellow, another week the round ones.)

A yellow bean I grew was Kinghorn Wax ... amazing flavour  8)

Your two bush beans are different types Safari are like Farrari ... very thin beans best picked about 4-5" .  Sprite are completely stringless, dark green round pods, pick at 6" I believe they got an Award of Garden Merit

Cobra. I don't have any luck with dwarf beans the slugs eat them but they can't be bothered climbing the climbing ones to get the beans.

Plus I like the lovely shiny black seeds ;D

French beans are my favourite crop of all.  I don't eat them fresh much, but let them develop beans inside and use those, fresh or dried.
I grow about 20 varieties. The purple ones, and dwarf/bush ones crop earliest (Cosse Violette climbing, Purple Teepee dwarf)

My favourites this year have been a Serbian and Croatian type of Barlotta ... big fat beans, gold stripes or pure black. Very prolific.

I freeze all my beans (seeds, not pods cos they go mushy).

Quote from: Bean_Queen on November 21, 2008, 07:58:23
French beans are my favourite crop of all.  I don't eat them fresh much, but let them develop beans inside and use those, fresh or dried.
I grow about 20 varieties. The purple ones, and dwarf/bush ones crop earliest (Cosse Violette climbing, Purple Teepee dwarf)

My favourites this year have been a Serbian and Croatian type of Barlotta ... big fat beans, gold stripes or pure black. Very prolific.

I freeze all my beans (seeds, not pods cos they go mushy).

Bean Queen - do you have any photos, or a link to some? The Barlotta ones sound fantastic. I have some Barlotta di Fuoco, from the Organic Catalogue, for sowing next year.  Also Neckar Queen and Blauhilde. I've decided to abandon runner beans for french beans.

I have tried many different varieties of dwarf french bean but the best result I have had over the past 8 years is one called Canadian Wonder its very heavy cropper Its a old variety and not many catalogers list then but you can get seed from wilkos and also kings seeds. I sowed 4 rows this year and harvested 87lbs

Purple Teepee is a dwarf plant that has done really well for me. In addition a variety called "yellow king wax" which I bought from lidl.

Like Kea, I never have much luck with the dwarf ones.

I grow climbers; Barlotto de Fuoco for drying, and Blauhilde for fresh.

I grew cherokee 2 years ago for the first time instead of runners and I myself wouldn't grow anything else. They freeze well too. If you would like some I have some saved seeds.

My favourite are Modus, seed avaialble from The Organic Gardening Catalogue. They are a strong plant which give a heavy, stringless crop and are great for freezing. I start them off in pots and plant out when a few inches high with a sprinkling of "Slug Stoppa" and this seems to help prevent slug damage

Agree with most on here  ...Cobra

Always good results from Cobra and also Blue Lake is another favourite of ours. Can't get enough - and the misshapes no matter how curly and fat are great in stir fries!!

Hi, this year for the first time I am trying a Dwarf French Bean called 'CROPPER TEE PEE' following recommendations from several viewer's of my website, it produces it's pod's mostly above the foliage making it easier to harvest, it is available from Tuckers Seeds and has a good flavour, regards Steve.

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