Description

Pole Bean, Purple Podded Pole

Bean cultivation can be traced to the earliest vestiges of human civilization. Beans may have been the first vegetables that mankind learned to cultivate. Fava beans have been found in Neolithic excavations in Switzerland. Chickpeas, favas and lentils have been found in Egyptian tombs, and the Chinese started growing soybeans around 1500 BC. However, many of the beans that we are familiar with today, like the common or kidney, lima and runner bean came from the Americas and were not introduced into Europe until the time of Christopher Columbus. The oldest archaeological evidence of common beans in the New World comes from Tehuacan, Mexico and has been radiocarbon dated to 7000 BC.

Lima beans, also known as butter beans, come in large seeded and small seeded varieties. They are a very old bean known to have been in coastal Peru since 6000 BC. The small seeded varieties are thought to have originated in Mexico. The large seeded varieties came from South America. The term ‘lima’ actually refers to Lima, Peru where it is rumored that an American Navy Admiral was introduced to the beans. He is said to have brought the beans back to New England where they did not produce well. Somehow the beans found their way into the Mid-Atlantic where they did much better in the warmer climate. Lima beans require a long growing season and will not tolerate frost. The beans come in a range of colors from black to purple to red to white. Bush varieties grow on compact 12-18 inch plants. Pole varieties grow on 10-12 foot vines.