Lazy Wife ("Original")

Pole habit. Primarily a snap, but can be used as shelling or dry: donor says it's very flavorful and stringless; young pods should be harvested for snaps when ~5" long; as pods mature and seeds swell, pods are still tender. Strongly climbing plants have white flowers. Fully expanded pods measure 4.8-5.4" long and 0.7-0.6" wide. Mature pods are bright green, highly constricted and curved. Pods contain 7-8 seeds. Medium, round, white seeds. Hard seeded. Late maturing and average productivity when grown in 2017 at Heritage Farm. Donated to SSE in 2010 by Derek Fell of Pennsylvania, garden writer and former catalog manager at the Burpee seed company. In 1885, W. Atlee Burpee offered the 'Lazy Wife' bean which had been grown by Mennonite immigrants in Bucks County, PA. By the 20th century, many similarly named strains existed. Derek Fell has been saving seed from the original Burpee strain for over 50 years. He originally acquired it from the late Bill Byrd of Carversville, PA who had saved seed from his 'Lazy Wife' plantings ever since Burpee dropped it from their catalog. After Bill passed away, his widow gave Derek the all of Bill's stock seed. SSE Accession # 129327