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There are 3 different beans with similar names. From UK HSL Lazy Housewife, brown seeded, lightbrown pinkish, darkening to dark brown.  From USA Lazy Housewife, sometimes also called Lazy Wife, which is white seeded.  Also Lazy Wife Greasy, which is similar to the USA Lazy Housewife, but with shiny seeds. 

The HSL bean (also in Bohnenatlas and in Beans and Herbs, but OS HSL) is thought to be called LH because its very large, green, comma shaped pods which stick out from the plants, it doesn't take long to fill a pot and they are easy to spot.  If there should be any doubt, these sickle moon shaped pods are quite unique and something to look out for.  If you look at Bohnenatlas entry of brown seeded LH and the description of the seeds, it says pinkish brown and the second photo shows the colour of slightly fresher seeds.  Unfortunately it is not an early bean. 

The USA LH may have got its name from its superior bearing.  The plants are loaded, so it is easy for the Housewife to fill a pot fast. 

We had all 3 versions in the seed circle at various times. 

Thanks for that, Galina. So you're saying that the lighter pinkish brown and the darker brown are actually one and the same. The darker brown is simply less fresh than than the lighter. So apart from the Greasy form, which usefully includes greasy in the name, there are just two forms.

I hadn't realised that the white seeded comes from US and the brown from Europe.

Don't know where the empty posts come from, never mind.

Seed darkening over time is well known and seed colours do vary from soil to soil too.  Seed shape and the brown ring around the hilum look the same, so there is a good chance that all is well.  The ultimate proof is in the grow out.  In particular, the sickle shaped large green pods.  If we were to get straight pods, then something would be wrong for sure.  But just looking at the differently brown seeds, I wouldn't worry.   

The white seeded LH is a different bean altogether with green straight, rounder, shorter pods, they are not related, just happen to have the same name.  The brown seeded LH does come from England, HSL, who had it in their catalogue for decades.  However, HSL say, it is a German variety without giving more info to substantiate this.  Never heard of in Germany, at least not under this English name!  This is what HSL say:  A German heritage variety popular there since the early 1800s. Thought to have earned its name due to the way, at the end of the season, the leaves wither and expose the pods making them easy to pick. Growing to around 2.5m in height this white-flowered variety is hardy and resilient, and very productive. One of our Seed Guardians commented: "The beans just kept coming; I grew tired of picking them every other day! The flavour is superb." Also copes well with hot, dry conditions. Seed colour pale cream to buff.   e o q  Their seed photo shows 2 beans that are significantly darker than the others.  The colour of the pods in the first photo is misleading, the pods are green.  But it shows the distinct sickle shape well.  The 'popular there since the early 1800s' statement does not actually mean, you will find it in current day seed catalogues in Germany. 

https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/seeds/climbing-french-bean-lazy-housewife

Thanks for further information and insights. It would be good if HSL was clearer about its sources. I don't know whether they come up with further information if asked, by researchers, for example, but with the key role they hold in the seed world, a more academic approach to the information they often rather vaguely suggest would be useful.

On the white-seeded Lazy Wife, from Vilmorin's The Vegetable Garden:

White Coco, or Lazy Wife, Kidney Bean. - Stem green, about 6 1/2 ft. high; leaves of medium size, stiff, rather long and pointed, of a dark, rather dull, green, and slightly crimped; flowers white; pods of medium length, rather broad, green, each containing five or six white egg-shaped seeds, about 1/2 in. long, nearly 1/2 in. broad, and over 1/4 in. thick. This variety, although ranking amongst the Edible-podded kinds (especally when the pods are young), is more esteemed for its seeds, which are used in the dried state.

The Sophie Kidney Bean is considered to be only a sub-variety of the White Coco, from which it differs in having rather larger pods (which are sometimes tinged with red, like those of the Prague Kidney Beans) and somewhat larger leaves.

I'm not so sure that Lazy Wife is from the US. I think it's more likely that White Coco was renamed for the US market. In Denaiffe's Les Haricots it is mentioned that 'Coco Blanc' is esteemed in certain regions for the quality of its seeds. I doubt there would be regional preferences if it was a recent introduction to France.

That's a great piece of research and deduction, Vetivert, which I'm looking forward to giving more time to later.

Two quick points to raise. I'm confused as to whether Lazy Wife and Lazy Housewife are interchangeable names for the same bean.
And the Coco Sophie which I grew this year was extremely productive and dried down beautifully, more so than the
Lazy Housewife which I've grown before. It was grown in a prime isolated position which might have helped,so it's an observation rather than a conclusion.

Coco Sophie photos

Quote from: JanG on December 22, 2024, 07:35:38I'm confused as to whether Lazy Wife and Lazy Housewife are interchangeable names for the same bean.

Lazy Wife is synonymous with White Coco. Lazy Housewife is an entirely different bean.

It's possible that Lazy Wife/White Coco has recently acquired the Lazy Housewife moniker, if you have found an instance of this commercially, but it's a mistake as there are no historic sources for this synonym.

Quote from: Beans of New York 1928Lazy Wife. Syns. White Cranberry, Sophie, Maryland White Pole, White Cherry. Maule in 1894 says Lazy Wife originated in Bucks Co., Pa., but it was probably brought there by German settlers. When comparison is possible it corresponds in every way with Martens Sophie bean, which he says was noted by Savi in 1822 as San Domingo bean; and Tracy says the variety was known in America as early as 1810 as White Cherry Pole or White Cranberry Pole. In France the type is known as Coco Blanc. Irish describes Sophie but evidently this was only a semi-climbing type. Its maximum height is given as from 3 to 4 feet. It is of equal value in the home garden as a snap or green shell bean and is also a good late variety for the market. At Geneva it produced its pods very late, 80 days from time of planting, about the same in season as Ward's Prolific and about one week later than Southern Cornfield and one week earlier than Georgian Pole. As a late snap pole bean it is excelled in quality by Scotia and Black-Seeded Kentucky Wonder, but as a shell bean it is probably unsurpassed.


White Cranberry. White Cranberry was known in America as early as 1828 and was quite popular for a long time, for its white, greenshell beans. Sophie, Lazy Wife, and White Cranberry are names which have been represented in catalogs for more than a century. Of the three, Lazy Wife alone continues to be listed in current catalogs. There is no clear demarkation between these varieties. Denaiffe gives White Cranberry as a synonym of Coco Blanc which, according to his description, is identical with Lazy Wife. Vilmorin considers Sophie a strain of Coco Blanc, while Wing described Sophie as either the predecessor of Lazy Wife or its European form. By some White Cranberry was known by a few characters markedly different from other types, it being decidedly more stocky, with broader pods, wider from stem to tip, and with marked carmine or purplish shadings typical of the horticultural varieties, and also with seeds slightly longer in proportion than those of Sophie.

As Galina mentioned, the pink/brown seeded Lazy Housewife is unrelated and I cannot find it in the literature.

Quote from: Vetivert on December 22, 2024, 09:14:08It's possible that Lazy Wife/White Coco has recently acquired the Lazy Housewife moniker, if you have found an instance of this commercially, but it's a mistake as there are no historic sources for this synonym.

Real Seeds offer a white seeded bean which they call Lazy Housewife. They quote Burpee:

A prolific bean introduced by W. Atlee Burpee and Co in 1885 - from their original description: "the pods are green, entirely stringless, of extra fine flavor, exceedingly rich and buttery when cooked.".....
In 1907 this was judged to be almost the very best flavoured bean on the market.

I assume that they checked that this was indeed the white-seeded version and that it was listed as Lazy Housewife rather than Lazy Wife, so the name seems to have been used as early as the late nineteenth century. I can't find the Burpee catalogue online.

Another slight variation of Coco Blanc is a variety sold by Wilko, before it ceased trading, called Coco Blanc à Rames. Its white seeds are very like those of Lazy Wife/Housewife to my eye.

Hi Jan, yes I agree Coco Blanc à Rames is synonymous - 'haricot à rames' or 'haricot ramant' roughly translates to pole or stick bean and denotes a climbing habit, as opposed to 'haricot nain' which are dwarf beans.

Here's another example from a French seed house:
https://www.graines-baumaux.fr/169464-haricot-ramant-coco-gros-sophie-ou-coco-blanc-a-rames.html

Real Seeds changed the name for their listing. The Burpee catalogue entry from 1885 lists 'Lazy Wife', not 'Lazy Housewife' (attached below). There are over 5600 hits for the former in the Biodiversity Heritage Library but none for the latter, so I feel confident in the conclusion that there is no historical record for a Lazy 'Housewife'. I do wonder why RS decided to change it.

Nowadays I tend not to take modern catalogue descriptions at face value when it comes to heritage vegetables as unfortunately these companies are not incentivised to do their due diligence when it comes to depth of research and accuracy. Even when they cite a source, there can be glaring inaccuracies, as in the above example. Another case: RS describes the pea Kelvedon Wonder as an introduction from '120 years ago', but it was introduced commercially in 1925 (Les Pois, Fourmont 1956). I know in the grand scheme of things it's a minor issue, but if something is valued, preserved and traded on its provenance and history then getting that provenance and history 'wrong' is a rather cynical marketing practice.

The Heritage Seed Library catalogue is sadly guilty of significantly more egregious examples than this, and if they can't be bothered to get it right, then it doesn't bode well for those that follow their lead!

Vetivert, again your research is wonderfully illuminating. And so helpful that you have a copy of the original Burpee catalogue to clinch the matter. And rather dismaying that the generally trusted Real Seeds are guilty of such slackness. One might wonder whether they were not the first to change the name but as they refer to Burpee, it was less than rigorous not to refer back to and use the Burpee nomenclature. Also your reference to the number of hits for Lazy Wife as opposed to Lazy Housewife does seem to suggest they made the change themselves for some reason. A message to them to enquire seems called for.

The dilemma now is whether to use the Lazy Wife name in future, or Lazy Wife's to follow Burpee. A frequent rule of thumb is to use the name one received seed under - and I have Lazy Wife seed originally from Real Seeds. If there's a clear error then I suppose it's sensible and helpful to correct it. In a case like this, going back to an earlier usage when it's clear that a change has been made, seems helpful too.

My internet search for the Burpee catalogue was unsuccessful. Please could you indicate how and where you found it.

Heritage Seed Library indeed have been proved to put defensiveness above a real desire for accuracy on several occasions. Fogs and confusions are thus proliferated.

Your reference to Graines Baumaux is interesting. Their listing of the variety in question as HARICOT RAMANT COCO GROS SOPHIE OU COCO BLANC À RAMES attempts perhaps to cover all possibilities except of course for Lazy Wife.

Absolutely fabulous research. What a history. I really was somewhat too glib in saying this bean comes to us from USA, but when I started growing beans, which is going back a bit  there literally was no white seeded Lazy Housewife or even Lazy Wife in general circulation in Britain.  Then one day it was, via the USA.  "Real Seeds offer a white seeded bean which they call Lazy Housewife. They quote Burpee: ....." This was almost certainly how I arrived at the USA origin, wrongly as it turned out.  At that time I would not have particularly looked at French Coco Sophie beans, far less equated them with a bean, which then was unknown to me, in any case.  Thank you for much (and much needed!) information, Vetivert.  This has made my day!   

Here's the link to the Burpee Cat. 1885 JanG; I don't have a copy personally, would be nice... :)
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45323828

If you use the advanced search feature on the BHL you will turn up all sorts of wonderful resources.

Quote from: Vetivert on December 21, 2024, 14:49:00I'm not so sure that Lazy Wife is from the US. I think it's more likely that White Coco was renamed for the US market.

Galina, on the contrary, I think I was perhaps too glib with this statement, because I don't think it's incorrect to say Lazy Wife came from the US. Perhaps it was better for me to say that a cultivar synonymous with, or the progenitor of, Lazy Wife was already here, and it appeared to be reintroduced under a unique new name from the US, though it had been known in Europe for a much longer time with a different name... which is more accurate but a lot longer and more convoluted 

Maybe a bit of extra information, which I just found in the 'bowels' of my old downloads.  The 2008 seed listing of Seed Saver's Exchange, that was made public that year, but without information of who the seed sellers are.  SSE runs on a model of listing seeds in a members booklet, but people buy from private sellers, this is different from the British membership based HSL which give free seeds as a member perk.  I am pretty sure I read that the proprietor of Real Seeds is or was a member of SSE.  This is an exerpt from the SSE 2008 listing.

BEAN / POLE / SNAP Lazy Housewife
BEAN / POLE / SNAP Lazy Wife
BEAN / POLE / SNAP Lazy Wife #3
BEAN / POLE / SNAP Lazy Wife, Brown Seeded

Unfortunately it does not specify seed colour for all entries, but the name Lazy Housewife itself, seems to have been known in the USA at that time.  There is a possibility, this bean came to UK (and with this name), via the SSE and not via a commercial seed source, like Burpee. 

Sorry this is getting so technical now, please scroll by if this is all too much information. 

Thank you. That does at least mean that Real Seeds don't need to be blamed for rather unnecessary name changing.

I guess all this search for certainty goes to show that trying to chase the naming history of seed varieties is fraught with difficulties and uncertainties. Maybe one day dna analysing will be so widespread and available that some of these mysteries will be more easily unravelled.

A few notes, I only tasted the tomatoes as too many bugs and beasties were happily doing that for me on the beans and peas and wasn't sure what or if there were going to be any left.

Tomato Essex Wonder, plant bought a at nursery. A good strong and prolific plant reasonable flavour, found this link ( sorry longhand) The blog of Essex Record Office , the storehouse of Essex History...archive September 23 2023.

Scotland Yellow, HSL ,ind golf ball size yellow fruit, nice flavour fruited over a long period, last fruits went floury but interestingly spreadable!!

Silvery Fir Tree,(HSL) very pretty carrot leaf bush plant , tasty with a bite . Red.
All the above grown in a greenhouse in case of blight.

DFB Elba, Pennard Plants.Dark green very fine beans.

Pea , American Wonder. Dwarf. Real Seeds. From the 1800's grows to 20 inches , small fat pods .

DFB Nautica.  Pennard Plants. Green Kenyan type fine pencil pods
stringless.

Pea, Sankia HSL. Thought to have originated in San Kia , Chinese Turkistan now Xinjiang, acquired by the U S dept of agriculture in 1910 to be trialled as a potential forage crop, more recently for research into seed bourne pea mosaic virus in the Netherlands. Tall plant white flowers short curved pods.

Pea. Sutton's Phenomenon, HSL ,white flower, large pods ,short.

DFB, Dior, Pennard Plants. Yellow pods , fresh and for drying.

CFB. HSL .Bob and Mary. Prolific, eat at all stages.

CFB . Hodgkin,HSL, Romanian HSL. Notes too vague, sorry.

CFB . Kentucky Wonder , Pennard Plants. Notes with JanG .

Dragon's Tongue Oriental Greens.  Peppery/ mustard leaf with an attractive leaf as in JanG's picture.

Tree Peony , from my garden and could possibly be yellow !

Thanks for your notes, MR. Very helpful. Airtable database is moving very slowly having got caught up in the Christmas activities. It will happen though!

I realise I haven't written any notes about the annual opium poppy (or bread poppy I think it's also called), Papaver somniferum, which I contributed seed for. This is a variety which self-seeds through my vegetable garden and is specially attractive and always welcome. The photo here is of Vetivert's very lovely Enigma sweet pea growing amidst my poppy

I didn't attach it properly. In the flesh it looks a little more pink and slightly less red. It's four to five feet tall.   

JanG, thanks for sharing a much needed taste of summer with that photo.. having thoughts of fresh berries and cream for some reason. I look forward to seeing those poppies in the flesh next year.

Markfield, thank you also for the descriptions of your lovely seeds. Sorry to read about the beasties, what a bother!

Indoor play and no mistake ! Whilst perusing the Thomas Etty seed catalogue ( online)  ,he has an interesting list of vegetable and flower resources starting in the 1400's , some great names ( familiar too ) and spelling. A salad was a much simpler dish back then , not sure garnish was a thing more a dish or remedy.