They grow well here outside of Pittsburgh! I haven't planted mine yet - hopefully this weekend. I've put them in as late as mid-July and they've done well. I always have several quarts to freeze for winter. They grow just like any other bean...I don't bother with a trellis since most varieties tend to be bushy. Good luck!

I grow heirloom pole limas across the river in New Jersey very successfully, and a friend in Bucks County also grows the beans. I've never been in love with the bush types, but that is simply personal taste. With pole limas most people start them in late May - I start mine earlier in peat pots -because they take so long to start producing, usually early August. Pole Limas are also very large vines, you only need maybe one vine every few feet. Starting in late June thru August they will grow up to 6 inches a day so they require a heavy trellis. You also need to grow at least 20 feet of vines in order to get a good harvest - I grow around 40 feet. What I do is plant 4X4s every 10 feet or so, run a wire between them at the top and bottom, and run strings between the wires. Once my pole beans start in August they continue to produce until frost ends the season. If you decide you want to grow limas you can email me. I am always willing to pass along the dried beans to anyone who wishes to grow them. They are a very rare local type who's history I can trace back at least 100 years and are also some of the tastiest limas I've even eaten.

You should have no problem -- they'll like these hot days. Likely your ground is dry. Open a furrow and soak the bottom thorougly, plant seeds in the moisture then cover with drier soil. That way the seeds get moisture but the surface might not crust over 'til after the seedlings appear. Then, hope for the weekly inch of rain that we'd all like to have these days. (Butter beans are from dried limas although there is a soybean called 'Butter Bean.')

Eye side down when planting limas, especially in heavy soil - they're big beans need every chance not to break off