A lot of people like Contender, it is good bean, but I prefer Empress for a green snap and Cherokee Wax for a wax bean.

I am trying Roma II, Annelino di Trento, Antea and Golden Wax this year as well to see if I have any winners.

Dean

Newer introductions like Valentino, Hialeah etc will have larger yield potential. Contender has been around for a while (1950) and has best flavor of any bush bean for southern style cooking. Not everyone likes it however. Good producer. Your Provider is also a pretty good bean. I don't care for the taste but the Blue Lake bush varieties are good producers and relatively popular.

I tried Nano Vittoria and Hildora this season and they did very well for me, taste as well as production.

Yesterday's harvest

Silvia

Nice harvest Silvia!

Has anyone ever grown Heavyweight II from Burpee??? I've not had much luck getting it to sprout but the plants that did are already blooming. "Fingers Crossed"

-Amber

I take it you're looking for snap bush beans? I have a few favorites. Derby is a great green bush bean. It held up well to some less than desirable weather here in the Northeast the past few years (cool & rainy). Blue Lake Bush beans are another great green bean, produces well and is readily available at big box stores & gardening centers. Cherokee Wax & Kinghorn Wax are great yellow beans and you can find them in the "cheap" seeds. Purple Queen is my favorite purple bush bean. I think it produces a little better than Royalty Purple or Royalty Burgundy. I also love Dragon Tongue beans (yellow with purple streaks) for the novelty.