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I think Grand-mère has found its way back to Europe from Canada rather than having continued here from the time Marie-Jeanne Disant was given it by her French grandmother before moving to Canada. It’s now held by a Belgian collector Guy Dirix who describes it on his website as a Canadian...

Grand-mère I grew Grand-mère this last season - thank you, Triffid. It’s a fine productive bean and produces lovely deep red seed. The seed you’ve received certainly looks rather brown with age. Interestingly I grew it by chance alongside Herrenbohnli. The pods of Grand-mère are slightly larger...

Runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) are potentially perennial. In much of England, if roots are left in the ground at the end of the season, they will re-sprout as the weather warms up the next year. I’ve kept them going for three years but haven’t yet tried them beyond that.

Thanks. Lots to look out for. Great to have such a seductive list to work with.

Attractive and interesting beans. I’ve become very interested recently in Romano type varieties but haven’t come across bush examples. I’m wondering how common bush Romano varieties are, and particularly whether there are many example in circulation of bush wax varieties.

I’m rather puzzled by this thread as the picture initially posted shows aphids rather than flea beetles. Flea beetles are small black insects which make holes in brassica leaves but leap away when disturbed. They’re not too bad a nuisance on older plants but can be ruinous on young seedlings...

Greetings from England. Good to see you here.

Growing up as I did in the middle section of the last century, I had a father who grew no vegetables at all apart from ‘runner’ beans - P. coccineus. They were his pride and joy and we lived off them through late summer and into autumn. The climate in the midlands of England suited them very...

I think it is absolutely right that for a British person a French bean is thought of as the longer Haricot Vert type of bean, and traditionally this is the type that has been available fresh in greengrocers. I also think that the usual explanation for the term ‘French’ is that this style of...

Baked beans in tomato sauce are pretty well the only way dried beans enter British culture, as you say. They have been enormously popular over the last few decades. Traditionally marketed by Heinz. They are canned in tomato sauce. For the average British person the beans never appear without...

In UK making use of either shelled beans or dry beans is quite unusual. It's only real bean enthusiasts who are likely to use P. vulgaris in any way other than as snap (green) beans. So in effect you're right; it nearly always does imply green beans. I hope I'm not confusing things further!

In UK, P. vulgaris are often called French beans. Within French beans there are climbing beans (pole) and dwarf beans (bush). The term Runner beans usually refers to P. coccineus. The term ‘French runner bean’ doesn’t sound at all UK. Were you referring to Adam Alexander’s use of that term in...

Thank you very much for your efforts and for searching using the Wayback Machine which I hadn't encountered before. I'll just have to enjoy them for what they are - but it's always much more satisfying to know a bit about where a bean came from. But in the meantime I hope you felt better after...

Thank you, Zeedman and Meadow, for your thoughts on Astrid. My donor has now said that they came from Deaflora. I confess to having doubts as Deaflora don’t carry them at the moment, and I think there would be internet references if they’d offered them in the recent past. I agree they do have...

Has anyone come across the pole bean 'Astrid'? I was given this in a swap by a donor who labelled it as coming from Austria. So far he can't remember any more about its origin. It's prolific and produces full pods and delightful red shiny round beans. I'm impressed with it and would love to...

That is also very interesting! Thank you for carrying on the research. Curiouser and curiouser. I’ve seen it suggested that the change occurred because of some kind of social sensitivity. I’m not sure that lazy housewife is any more socially sensitive than lazy wife though!

Real Seeds in UK, and possibly others, sell ‘ Lazy Housewife’ bean. It seems to be the same bean as it’s round and white, and they reference Burpee as first offering it. I don’t know when the ‘house’ bit was adopted nor how widespread the use of that name is, but it seems clear that Lazy Wife’...

Thanks for the warning about the difficulty of harvesting good seeds. Mine are still outside growing, and still full of younger beans too. It’s impressively productive and has become a favourite. Our weather is still dry at the moment but I’ll keep an extra careful eye on them now that you’ve...

No dry pods on Lilaschecke here (east England) yet either. But not far off I think.

That will be great. I'd very much like to grow them (sooner than 2024!) based on your description, and my recent conversion to greasy beans .