Christmas Lima beans are prolific, large seeded, and tasty. As mentioned above they are a pole bean and need a decent support to grow on.

The first photo shows their color progression as they mature to a dried bean. The second is more for size reference.

Rodney

There are threads about Corona Runner Beans around here somewhere, a very very large bean.

Royal Corona Bean. If your climate is not too hot they may do really well for you.

The classic "Butter bean" Sieva, not as big as you are saying but supposed to be very good.

Sieva Lima bean

At the moment our temps are well over 100 degrees, but I was thinking a fall crop for the beans. I looked at your links rbrt, and Royal Corona looks like it just might be what I'm looking for,

Your photos of the Christmas bean look intersting too, theforgottenone. I just may have to try those too.

Kate - I think Royal Corona is the bean that dcarch7 has posted pictures of on the cooking forum. They are huge!

I couldn't find the thread with his beautiful plating of a meal that included those beans.

Keep in mind that "Royal Corona" is a runner bean; as such, it will not set pods in hot weather. It performs best where there is warm soil for germination, and cooler weather during flowering. It may work as a late Fall or Winter bean in frost-free parts of California.

For lima beans, I concur with the recommendation for "Christmas" and "King of the Garden", I grew both when I lived in San Diego & they did well. Some years, the KOG even survived the winter, and produced an early crop the next year.

There is a really huge lima, "Dr. Martin", that needs a long season... obviously not a problem in Zone 9B. It can be hard to find, expressly because it is hard to get seed from in much of the U.S. The green-shelled beans can be up to 2" long, so it may be worth hunting for. Here is one source:

Dr. Martin limas

Now I just have to find a seed company that still has any of these seeds in stock.

I've never heard of Dr. Martin. Thanks for the link.

I'm growing 'Big Mama Lima' from Burpee. I don't know if it has another name. They produce in summer heat in Ohio. 3-5 lima beans in a pod but up to 6 (well I see one with 6), beans 1.25-1.5"

picked today

Another large lima occurs to me, I believe the spelling was hija, or something similar. This is a very large, flat lima that I've seen carried in Hispanic groceries. I tried to grow it here, but it was photo-period sensitive, and did not bloom until September... much too late for me to get seed.

Hija bean, a flat bean with a very long history, seems to be a bean used dry widely. Maybe zeedman has found what you are looking for.

The name "Gigante beans" seems to be used for both Hija and Corona?

Thanks for the link, rbrt. I think these might be what I've been looking for.

Thanks for the link, rbrt. I question Purcell's description though, as I have found misleading info in their listings before, and this listing is no exception.

"This Lima is also referred to as a butter, curry, Madagascar, lab, or Pole Beans, another reference is the Cape Pea."

I grow Madagascar, it is definitely not the same lima. Madagascar is red & white, similar to Christmas, but slightly smaller & with more red on the seed coat.

"In Greece they are called Gigandes."

Wrong again... the bean known in Greece as Gigandes is a very large, white-seeded runner bean. I grow that too. As rbrt stated, "Gigandes" and "Gigantes" are often confused, as both have been used to describe very large white beans.

I have also caught them using the same photo for more than one variety.

IMO, given those errors, I would take Purcell's listing with a grain of salt... what you receive may be different than what you seek.