Fine Green beans in the shops

My missus loves these, so I want to grow them, what are they? Are they dwarf french beans or? Some I've seen in catalogues include Climbing bean Cobra and also dwarf bean Delinel. I only grow runners, despise broad beans, so am at a bit of a loss. Someone help me out?

They are dwarf French beans, but there are lots of different varieties. They grow very well here in SW France as they like it hot and sunny, unlike runner beans which can be difficult here and aren't even grown commercially. Why do you despise broad beans ? I love them, but they must be young and tender so best home grown.

They taste like filth lol, butter beans, the texture just makes me retch tbh.. But ty for the heads up on the dwarf french beans.

I hate butter beans too, used to have them in school dinners. Butter beans sound lovely and buttery, but they're not - dry and floury or hard. But broad beans are soft and delicious. Each to their own! Runner beans are my favourite.

Both butter beans and broad beans are gorgeous - cooked well and carefully - lucky we don't all like the same things isn't it.  Fine beans are, as you now know, dwarf french beans, and are are eminently suitable for container growing - so anyone with the tiniest space can have them - yummy. 

Excellent, shan't tell the missus, be a nice surprise for her.

I like really young broad beans cooked with the pods like runners.

well that was a lot of infomation fish4card, ave you been swating up.

Whatever, it's reminded me to sow a few dwarf frenchies in a big pot in the gh now for an early crop. And I love baby broad beans cooked in their pods too. But I can remember as a child I HATED broad beans, but really enjoy them now. It helps I think if you can shell them if they're a bit on the elderly side. Butter beans...mmmmm! I left some runners (Moonlight I think was the variety) to dry in their pods a couple of years ago, then cooked just the beans. They were fab.

Cobra climbing beans are a heavy cropper and the beans look, taste and can be used in the same way as those supermarket beans you mention, Ben.  They grow like runners, but need starting off a bit later.  The beans themselves are to all intents and purposes identical to those on dwarf french bean plants, but I prefer Cobra as you get more crop for the same ground area (as they grow upwards, of course!)

Fine green beans, French beans, string beans (American) are all the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_bean

fish4card sounds familiar.

I just thought that Lizzie.

Green beans/french beans/pole beans/dwarf beans etc are actually native to Central and South America rather than North - they are virtually semi-tropical in their requirements and frost-tender.  That being said if they're not difficult to grow  http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Grow-Your-Own/Veg-A-to-Z/French-beans  and usually crop well.

Enjoy 

Thanks for all the help everyone, and cheers johncobb I needed to know all that.