A Comprehensive Guide to the Best Bush Bean Varieties for Your Garden

You’ve made the exciting decision to add bush beans to your garden, and now you’re ready to explore the vast world of options available. With a plethora of varieties to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know which ones are best suited for your garden and taste preferences. In this in-depth guide, we’ll take you through 35 of the best bush bean varieties, ranging from classic snap cultivars to long-podded and purple podded varieties. Whether you’re new to growing bush beans or an experienced gardener, you’re sure to find something that piques your gardening curiosity on this list.

Classic Snap Cultivars

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Let’s begin with the classics – the all-time favorite snap beans loved for their familiar taste and texture. These classic snap cultivars are not only easy to grow but also offer winning attributes like disease resistance and high yields.

Harvester – A prime example of an heirloom snap bean with excellent disease resistance, producing high yields of smooth, tender, 6-inch-long green pods.
Porch Pick – Ideal for container gardening, this variety offers loads of crisp, tender, 5-inch-long green pods in just 55 days.
Prevail – A heat and stress tolerant snap variety that grows well in various climates, producing flavorful, dark green pods ready to harvest in 60 days.
Tendergreen – An all-purpose snap variety perfect for canning and freezing, offering high yields of tender, green, 6-inch pods.

Stringless Snaps

For those who prefer skipping the stringing process, stringless snap beans are a clear choice. These varieties are not only convenient but also offer a delicious and tender bean-eating experience.

Landreth Stringless – An heirloom variety known for its fiberless, slightly curved, and tender pods, perfect for canning or fresh eating.
Strike – A heavy yielding variety with smooth, slim, and stringless pods, great for fresh eating, freezing, and canning.
Stringless Green Pod – The cultivar that started the stringless green bean trend, offering flavorful, stringless snaps in just 50 days.
Tenderette – An early maturing variety producing an abundance of straight, smooth, and tender pods, ready to harvest in 58 days.
Tenderpod – An All-America Selections Winner in the edible category, producing reliable harvests of round, thick, tender, and crisp pods.

Filet Cultivars

Filet beans, also known as haricot verts or French filet beans, offer a slimmer and tenderer bean-eating experience. These delicacies are excellent for side dishes and add a touch of elegance to any meal.

Beananza – An abundant producer of tender, stringless filet beans, offering delectable 7-inch pods.
Desperado – A heavy yielding cultivar producing delicious, dark green filet pods with brown seeds, tolerating mosaic virus and heat well.
Fin de Bagnol – A French heirloom known for performing well in cool soils, producing tender, thin, filet style beans that are typically picked at 6-8 inches long.
Masai – An heirloom haricot vert perfect for container gardening, offering a harvest of stringless, “baby” filet bush beans in just 47 days.
Mascotte – An award-winning variety producing abundant harvests of 6-inch-long filet beans, offering excellent disease resistance and early maturity.

Long Podded Cultivars

If you’re looking for varieties with particularly long pods, these long-podded cultivars offer more bean for your buck while maintaining that classic green bean taste.

Big Kahuna – Producing the largest pods among the varieties presented, ‘Big Kahuna’ grows compact plants that adapt well to containers.
Jade – Tolerant to stress, heat, and cold, ‘Jade’ offers slender, 7-inch-long, dark green pods with excellent disease resistance and high productivity.
Kentucky Wonder 125 – An early maturing heirloom variety offering flat, 7-8-inch pods with a meaty texture, resisting mosaic virus and Northern leaf blight.
Heavyweight II – A super producer offering sweet tasting 8-inch pods on compact plants, ready to harvest in just 53 days.
Top Crop – An early and low maintenance heirloom with heavy yields of 7-inch-long straight pods, and excellent resistance to mosaic virus.

Yellow Podded Cultivars

Stepping away from the traditional green bush beans, yellow podded varieties, also known as wax beans, offer a colorful and flavorful addition to your garden.

Cherokee Wax – An All-America Selections Winner with light yellow, stringless pods, perfect for fresh eating, canning, and freezing.
Gold Mine – An early maturing variety producing smooth, straight yellow snaps with high resistance to diseases.
Gold Rush Wax – Offering slender, straight yellow pods with crisp and tasty qualities, ready to harvest in 54 days.
Golden Wax – A productive and stringless wax bean ready for harvest in just 50 days, offering bright yellow, buttery flavored snaps.
Pencil Pod Wax – An heirloom variety heavy producer with abundant straight pods, reaching 5-7 inches in length, and ready to harvest in 52 days.

Purple Podded Cultivars

For those looking to add a pop of color to their garden, purple podded bush beans offer beauty and taste in one package. These lovely beans add a vibrant touch to your garden and turn green when cooked.

Amethyst – An attractive variety producing flavorful purple pods reaching 5-5 1/2 inches in length, stringless and tender, perfect for raw and cooked consumption.
Purple Queen – A combination of the best characteristics, offering royal purple pods with early maturing, high productivity, and disease resistance.
Purple Teepee – Producing straight, slender, stringless snaps in a vibrant violet color, perfect for easy picking.
Royal Burgundy – An overachiever offering incredible disease and insect resistance, and can tolerate cool temperatures for a tender and flavorful bean-eating experience.
Velour – A heavy producer in royal purple color, perfect for container gardening, offering tender and flavorful filet beans in just 55 days.

Romano Varieties

Romano beans, also known as Italian green beans, offer wide and flat pods compared to traditional green beans. These fleshy beans are perfect for a unique bean eating experience.

Dragon’s Tongue – A colorful variety with yellow pods and purple streaks, offering an abundance of tender and flavorful filet beans.
Early Bush Italian – An heirloom variety offering early maturing, flavorful green pods in just 50 days.
Green Crop – An award-winning Romano bush bean with heavy and early harvests, offering crisp and flavorful 8-inch-long pods.
Jumbo – A cross between ‘Kentucky Wonder’ and ‘Romano,’ offering heavy yields of extra-long, meaty pods with high disease resistance.
Roma II – A large harvest of delicious, stringless, flat beans, perfect for fresh eating and freezing.

Bushwhacking Through the Choices

With a vast array of bush bean varieties available to choose from, this guide provides a comprehensive look at 35 of the best options for your garden. Whether you’re opting for classic snap beans, stringless varieties, long-podded cultivars, yellow or purple podded beans, or Romano varieties, there’s something for every gardener’s preference and growing conditions. So, take your pick from these versatile and flavorful bush beans, and get ready to enjoy a bountiful harvest in your garden this season.

Which bush bean varieties are you planting this year? Share your favorites and recommendations with us, and let’s embark on a delightful journey of growing and enjoying these delicious beans in our gardens!