French Bean Seeds

‘Abundance’ Green Pole Bean

This variety lives up to its name. A really good bean from our trials in 2012, Abundance is early-cropping and makes large numbers of slightly flattened pods. 

The flavour is excellent and we like them so much that we've added them to our home garden bean patch every year.

Large crops of green, flattened pods.

approx 80 seed £2.90

‘Cherokee Trail of Tears’ Pole Bean

This bean was originally from the native North American Cherokee people. In 1838 they were driven out of their homelands in the state of Georgia by the US government to make room for more European settlers , a forced march known as the 'Trail of Tears'. This bean is one of their heirlooms they managed to keep with them and has been passed on from generation to generation ever since.

We can see why the Cherokees valued it so much! It is incredibly prolific, cropping over a long season. We plant lots each year for our own use & feedback from all of you is always positive.

approx 70 seed £3.15

‘Cosse Violette’ Purple Pole Bean

A really vigorous early bean with purple flowers, stems & pods. (Note: the purple colour turns to green on cooking. 

The special thing about these is that they stay stringless even to a big size, so it doesn't matter if you miss some or go away for a few weeks in the middle of the season. Lots of people have written in to say how much they like it.

Tall, with purple pods that stay stringless even when big.

approx 75 seed £3.14

‘Early Marvel of Venice’ Yellow Pole Bean

An early-cropping yellow pole bean, from northern Italy, with round pods, slightly flattened, that are a lovely light yellow colour. 

There are actually two related versions of "Marvel of Venice" - this one, with white seeds, is particularly early to crop. There is another one with black seeds that ripens later , but we think this white seeded one is better for the UK.

It grows very tall so provide decent height canes - but then you also get a lot of beans!

about 90 seed £2.99

‘Lazy Housewife’ Pole Bean - UNIQUE FAT BUTTERY BEANS

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." 

This is a late-cropping bean, so you definitely need to grow another type as well for the start of the season. But the beans are incredible; they have these huge fat white seeds that taste fantastic - all soft and buttery - when boiled. The pods stay stringless for a long time and you get a lots of them -it's just great. This was Ben's favourite bean in 2016.

In 1907 this was judged to be almost the very best flavoured bean on the market (sadly the one single variety that beat it is now extinct so we can't offer it.)

approx 55 seed £3.10

‘Princess’ Flat-podded Pole Bean - VERY RARE

This wonderful bean was recommended to us by Camilla Plum, seed collector and celebrity gardener from Denmark. She sent a few seed from her collection and explained that it was a very old variety that is no longer in circulation, and that it was unique because the pods stay tender for ages on the plant, even when they get fat and the beans have filled out. 

We tried it here in Wales and it was really good with exceptionally tasty, big flattened pods.

Seed not available every year, so again do save your own for future use if you like it.

approx 40 seed, organic. £3.20

‘Coco Sophie’ Flat Pole Bean - RARE

A tall climbing bean from the late 1700s. With very flat pods, it looks like a runner, but really isn't, it's a proper french bean.We love this bean because it has an absolutely wonderful buttery texture when cooked and an excellent flavour.

After three hundred years, it became commercially unavailable in 2006. We brought this rare bean back, starting with a small sample from our seedbank. Not available every year, but if you like it - as we think you will - it's very easy to keep your own seed following the instructions supplied.

Beautiful white seeds, large buttery green pods.

48-50 seed £3.41

Stock: Out of stock, sorry.

‘Neckargold’ Yellow (usually) Pole Bean, Flat-podded

A delicious tender yellow climbing bean, it grows really tall , giving lots of long flat beans that start pale green and ripen to glowing yellow.

Even the plants show up the colour, with bright yellow stems. The yield is excellent, and they stay stringless even up to 8 inches long, staying tender for longer than other varieties. It is later than our other beans, definitely mid season, but this is useful to extend your bean crop after the others start to trail off.

Yellow, tasty, stringless, good yields of long beans. Beware may come out green in some conditions!

80 seed £3.00

Green Bush -A DWARF YARD LONG BEAN!

This could well be the silliest plant in our catalogue - a dwarf bush yard-long bean. So you get short bushes with silly 12" - 15" pods growing from it. 

An early-maturing variety more suitable for the UK. Best grown in a polytunnel or greenhouse unless you're in a warmer part of the country as they're heat loving plants. Harvest when the beans are still slender. You can leave them to get huge but they then won't be so tender.

We have seen that occasionally, a few of the plants can try to be tall; if that happens and you don’t want it, then just pinch out their growing tips to make them bush out.

approx 50 seed £2.99

‘Cupidon’ Filet Bush Bean

A filet-type, with long slender pods. An exquisite variety that produces a huge number of tender thin green pods all summer, starting early, and continuing cropping well after the others have finished. It has a particularly good flavour used raw in salads. The beans also stay stringless as they get to full size and it makes a good normal french bean, with a particularly good flavour raw.

Sadly, it does not make many seeds and this is unfortunately reflected in the price/packet size  - but if you can afford it, it is a fantastic bean.

A special, gourmet early/maincrop filet variety.

about 80 seed £3.26

‘Dior’ Yellow Filet Bush Bean

This recent addition to the catalogue is an early, yellow filet. The plants are small yet make a LOT of slender & tender pods, in an excellent bright yellow colour. As the beans are slim you only need to cook them very briefly, preserving the colour and flavour. A real treat!

Pick small as a filet or leave to get bigger (if you can resist eating them all straight away)

approx 150 seed, organic. £2.99

Stock: Out of stock, sorry.

‘Aguilon’ Green Bush Bean

We're so pleased to offer this old favourite once again after a gap of several seasons - it was dropped commercially a few years back but we have finally found another grower, and this time even organic. Particularly long pods - up to 20 cm - produced in large numbers, this delicious variety from France is chosen both for flavour and heavy cropping.

Pods are held above the leaves , so easy to find when picking. We like it a lot.

approx 80 seed, organic. £3.10

‘Castandel’ Green Bush Bean

An excellent green bush bean from France chosen for earliness and productivity. Very tasty too, and it makes so many beans, we just love it! Stringless and tender pods produced in large numbers , this is our reccommendation for a normal green bean.

Long green pods. A really good early bush bean.

approx 100 seed £2.99

Stock: Out of stock, sorry.

‘Maxidor’ Yellow Bush Bean

An excellent yellow bush bean that makes really large numbers of fat yellow pods on compact plants.

A long-standing favourite and the one we plant every year for our own kitchen - large yields, they keep their yellow colour after cooking, and look really pretty on the plate or in a salad, with a particularly good flavour.

Excellent bush bean making lots of fat yellow pods.

approx 120 seed £2.99

‘Purple Queen’ Bush Bean

This is stunningly productive - in our trials it was almost silly how the plants were laden with beans - the picture shows just one branch of one plant!

They are beautiful; with purple pods, flowers and stems, and the beans are easy to find when picking as they stand out against the foliage.

Very vigourous plants, make lots of delicious beans.

approx 80-90 seed £2.95

‘Marvel of Piemonte’ Stripey Bush Bean - HEAVY CROPPING

This bush bean from north Italy is chosen for its amazing appearance - the pale greeny-yellow pods have purple stripes! 

Also early to crop and properly stringless. It has a really good buttery texture when cooked, and we have discovered it also holds well on the plant and doesn't go stringy or tough for ages, even if you miss some when picking.

Flat pods, streaked with purple, on a yellow background, great flavour.

about 90 seed £2.90

‘Stregonta’ Stringless Bush Bean -DUAL USE!

An OUTSTANDING early bush borlotti bean from Italy, colourful pods with red stripes on a pale green background, ready in about 70 days from germination.

It is very quick to set, and the pods can be picked and the whole thing is stringless and delicious just like any french bean, a handful pictured here.

But then you can let them get bigger and use the seeds shelled out as fresh beans for cooking - when they have stong red spashes - just boil for 20 mins or so without soaking. Later the seeds dry to a darker tan colour for storage overwinter.

It's very unusual in that it is dual-purpose for fresh and drying/shelly use - excellent picked as a normal green bean , and then any that get bigger can be easten as seeds, which are delicious and so big that they go a bit square from being squeezed into the pods.

50 seed £2.97

Admires’ Flat Bush Bean -DELICIOUS

An absolutely delicious flat-podded dwarf french bean. The pods do look like a runner bean but don’t be fooled, it really is a French Bean & as such much quicker and easier to grow. This one got rave feedback in our taste tests.

Early and very productive, with very tender pods.

approx 100 seed £2.85