Well, Louisiana Purple Pods and Fortex are delicious and do very well here until the weather begins to regularly hit into the mid nineties with night lows only in the low to mid seventies. During the dog days, I have yet to hit on one that does very well. Kentucky Wonders don't die during the hottest part of summers, but production slows and the ones that do set get stringy very fast.

This summer I am going to try Red Noodles, Rattlesnake and McCaslan beans in the hottest part of the summer as an experiment. Otherwise, I can depend on Cowpeas to produce no matter how hot it gets.

Kentucky Wonders should do well in Ohio and they are in my opinion the most tasty for the traditional style preparation that you mentioned. Blue Lakes for modern preparation like steaming etc. There are many others that are good, You have to select somewhat on your style of preparation.

I vote for the Rattlesnakes too - we had extremely hot temps last summer and the beans to produce the longest in the heat were the Rattlesnakes, then Hilda (a Romano pole). The first ones to start growing again as temps came down were the Rattlesnakes and Hildas. The Kentucky Wonders did the worst for me, but I suspect that's a fluke in my garden.

Cindy

guess it is an oldie but a goodie Blue lake

Actually, for good "bean" flavor, I think that runner beans are a lot more flavorful than P. vulgaris beans. But, they aren't as productive and the pods get tough faster and generally need to be "stringed". But they sure do taste great.

Good old Romano is my most reliable garden vegetable, year after year, no matter how hot and dry, or cold and rainy, or buggy the weather is. They take a little while to get going, but are worth the wait. They have excellent beany flavor and are stringless even when over-ripe. I grow a variety of pole beans every year, including runner beans, French fillet beans, and whatever other varieties catch my eye, but the Romano beans always outdo all of the others. I wouldn't think of a gardening season without planting them!

Emerite and Purple pole beans! They are so pretty together, with lavender and purple flowers, followed by green and purple beans. The purple beans turn dark green, when you cook them!

I do water my beans (we have hot, dry summers) but for taste, these are both excellent choices, IMHO :)

I use soaker hoses in all my beds for watering, then mulch heavily with dried grass clippings, though any organic material or straw would work, to keep the water from evaporating as fast. I also bought a $10 mechanical wind-up shut-off valve that turns off the hose for me so I don't forget and let it run a long time. You could turn on the water at any time of the night and let it run for a pre-determined time.

I like Grandma Robert's Purple Pole Bean, Uncle Steve's, Super Marconi, and Anellino Giallo which is a yellow Italian Shrimp Bean, but I have cool summers so you should follow advice of someone with hot summers.

I like Dade. This is my first year for a pole bean in several years. Dade used to be widely available but is rare now. I have grown them in Piedmont NC and they produced all summer. Here is a quote from the only source I was able to find this year:

"Dade Bean: This is a large white-seeded very tender cornfield bean that at one time was a very popular commercial bean. It is sometimes from ten to twelve inches long and very tender. Our seed stock originally came from six seeds from Billy Prichett near Chattanooga, Tennessee. Seeds grown in 2011 for us by Jim Kerr of Indiana. Limit three packets per customer"

Here is a link that might be useful: Berea heirloom seeds