I've heard Kentucky Wonder is a good pole bean. I'm
going to try it next summer. Might try Fortex also, since
I've heard a lot of good things about that one also.
Last summer I planted Rattlesnake, and they seemed a
little soft. Is that normal? As for snap peas. I tried
Sugar Daddy and Sugar Snap Pea. Both are delicious.
I will plant the Sugar Snap Pea this spring. I love to
snack on them when I'm in the garden looking around.

I never met a sugar pea I didn't like. Last year I put in a packet of Ferry Morse seeds from bigbox that cost a dollar or so. They did as well as any. The kids turned their noses up at the strawberries, ripe at the same time, in favor grazing at the pea trellis. Misterbaby.

Emerite has been my favorite pole bean for some years. Also freezes very well.

I love the violet podded stringless pole beans. They would be a nice addition to the rattlesnakes and Fortex.

For peas, I agree, they are all good. Maybe try Super Sugarsnap? Plant extra, because they work well slightly younger as snow peas, too.

For peas, I grew "super snappy" one year and they were fabulous. vigorous and abundant and tasty, and very hardy. Next year I grew "amish snap" and they also did well, although they were not quite as large as the super snappy, but very vigorous. I would grow either again, and will with the Amish snap because I saved seeds.

I also enjoy them with olive oil, garlic, and just a little salt. They are so good.

Pole beans, I have grown Kentucky Wonder and Blue Lake, and both did very very well. I also grew a variety called "Malibu" last year, and it was very early, although not as many seeds germinated as the Kentucky Wonder.

Agree with Lantana. Super Sugar Snaps are great, just be sure to give them a tall support.

So far these are my favorite pole beans:
Purple Podded Pole Beans

I planted some sugar snaps last year, just from big box store seeds. They were fine.

But about pole beans, I have a good recommendation. Or that is how I feel strongly about:
HYACINTH POLE BEANS.
This is my favorite for more than one reason:

1- It blooms all summer, through fall till frost.
2- The flowers are beautiful pink/lavendr and attract lots of bees.
3- the flowers produce nice pink/lavender flat beans that can be enjoyedy young ,like snow peas or let it ripen to beans.
4- It is a good climber, not agressive like some vines.

I like it mostly for its blooming and climbing habit. It can be planted by mailbox, treliss, arches...
Actually it is better than some clematice, pluss you can harvest bean from it, non-stop, till frost.

In my opinion, original Sugarsnap tastes noticably better than the Super Sugarsnap. The difference (reason for "improvement" of the original) is in earliness and disease resistance. Super Sugarsnap doesn't grow quite as tall either. From the reviews I have seen both are better than other varieties.

Super sugar snap It is.
Now for the Pole Bean:
Emerite, I may think on that one for a Fortex replacement. My Fortex gets wind burn real bad.
Purple Bean, Not sure If I can handle a purple bean.
What is your feelings on a cherokee trails of tears?

I grew Rattlesnake for a number of years and loved them (still do) but my new favorite pole bean is one I got from Pinetree (I'm sure others have it too) called Purple Trionfo Violetto. It has amazing flavor and is tender even if the beans get a little bigger then they should. Like the name inplies, it is a purple podded bean. I can't recommend it highly enough. The sugar snap peas with olive oil, onion and garlic sound delicious. I'm going to have to try that!
Karen

My Fortex gets wind burn real bad.

Yes, i've tried to grow it twice with poor results. Too bad, i have read it is a great bean in so many other gardens. There might be other reasons for it's bad performance here but the very poor wind tolerance was easy to see.

You know the purple beans turn green when you cook them, right ; )

Trail of Tears seems to get good reviews on the bean forum, here's some good reading for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cherokee Trail of Tears