Favorite Bush Bean

[Dee]

I see this is an older post, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents, anyway! My favourites are Calima, Red Swan, Roma II, and Galopka. I haven't been able to find Galopka beans (yellow string bush beans) for a few years, but they were a winner the year I grew them.

[Seven Bends]

Green bush beans: Contender and Blue Lake. Both are great until the summer heat really sets in, at which point they shut down and then revive most years in late August for a minor fall crop if I haven't pulled the plants. Blue Lake matures about 5 days later than Contender in my garden.

Yellow bush beans: Custard Wax (SV1003GF) -- beautiful, delicious, very productive. This year they continued to produce from spring all the way until early October. They seem to be very disease-resistant.

[karstopography]

Rolande did great for me. French filet type, just kept putting on one flush after another until the heat shut it down.

[Tormahto]

Contender is the single worst tasting bean I've ever tried. A few others agree. To me, it tastes like my lawn.

And the best tasting, to me, are green romano (flat podded) types. The best of the best, by a wide margin, is Supermarconi. It's only problem is that it is just about the worst in handling the heat.

[MissS]

Contender is the single worst tasting bean I've ever tried. A few others agree. To me, it tastes like my lawn.

And the best tasting, to me, are green romano (flat podded) types. The best of the best, by a wide margin, is Supermarconi. It's only problem is that it is just about the worst in handling the heat.

One other problem is that it is a pole bean and this thread is asking about bush beans.

[Seven Bends]

Contender is the single worst tasting bean I've ever tried. A few others agree. To me, it tastes like my lawn.

And the best tasting, to me, are green romano (flat podded) types. The best of the best, by a wide margin, is Supermarconi. It's only problem is that it is just about the worst in handling the heat.

I was surprised to see that you think Contender bush beans taste awful; I think they're delicious. After seeing your comment, I was intrigued, so I checked out customer reviews on various seed sites. They're almost uniformly positive on flavor, with the exception of Burpee, where several reviewers say they taste bad. I also noticed that the Burpee and Ferry Morse product descriptions say that Contender has a strong, distinctive bean flavor. I wouldn't describe it that way; to me it just tastes like a good green bean. Maybe there's some variation depending on seed source? Or maybe it's the Purple Calabash of beans.

I agree that romano types have excellent flavor. We used to be able to grow them well here, but we've had poor crops the last several years, probably due to heat. I'm working my way through a few different varieties at this point, trying to find something that still works here.

[MissS]

Contender is the single worst tasting bean I've ever tried. A few others agree. To me, it tastes like my lawn.

And the best tasting, to me, are green romano (flat podded) types. The best of the best, by a wide margin, is Supermarconi. It's only problem is that it is just about the worst in handling the heat.

I was surprised to see that you think Contender bush beans taste awful; I think they're delicious. After seeing your comment, I was intrigued, so I checked out customer reviews on various seed sites. They're almost uniformly positive on flavor, with the exception of Burpee, where several reviewers say they taste bad. I also noticed that the Burpee and Ferry Morse product descriptions say that Contender has a strong, distinctive bean flavor. I wouldn't describe it that way; to me it just tastes like a good green bean. Maybe there's some variation depending on seed source? Or maybe it's the Purple Calabash of beans.

I agree that romano types have excellent flavor. We used to be able to grow them well here, but we've had poor crops the last several years, probably due to heat. I'm working my way through a few different varieties at this point, trying to find something that still works here.

Don't be offended by Tormato's taste buds as his can't stand the flavors of a dark tomato!!!

[Tormahto]

I see someone is donating Wyatt to the swap this year, saying it's their new favorite snap. I singled that one out of a catalog last year because of the flavor description. Unfortunately, I didn't plant it. Fortunately, someone else did.

And, don't be offended by my sense of height disability, as I can't tell the difference between a bush and a pole bean.

[wildcat62]

Tenderette are our go to bush beans but a friend has recently recommended Jade. Planted 2 rows today.

[jmsieglaff]

Not a green bean, but favorite by far is Dragon Tongue. Especially for fresh eating, also pickled well.