🫘 Dixie Butterpea Lima Bean

Phaseolus lunatus ‘Dixie Butterpea’
The Southern butterpea: small, creamy, heat-loving baby limas that keep bearing until frost.
Sun
Full sun, 6-8 hrs
Days to harvest
75 days
Spacing
4-6 inches apart in rows 24-36 inches apart (species standard)
Soil pH
6.0-7.0
Zones
Grown as a warm-season annual everywhere; in Florida, a spring-to-summer crop that loves heat

What it looks like

No verified photo of ‘Dixie Butterpea’ itself was found, so the pictures below show the species — the same plant, photographed generally.

Dixie Butterpea Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus ‘Dixie Butterpea’) — Flower of Lima beans
Flower of Lima beans. Photo: Ravikiran vilas jadhav, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Dixie Butterpea Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus ‘Dixie Butterpea’) — Lima bean (Assam)
Lima bean (Assam). Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Dixie Butterpea Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus ‘Dixie Butterpea’) — Shelling lima beans
Shelling lima beans. Photo: Pacopac, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Why this variety

Dixie Butterpea is the lima that Southern gardens kept growing while fancier beans came and went. It is a bush-type baby lima — small, nearly round, white seeds, 3-4 beans per pod — on compact plants 16-24 inches tall that need no trellis. The flavor is the point: creamy, buttery, and rich, the reason butterpeas have their own name in Southern cooking even though botanically they are lima beans.

Heat is where Dixie earns its keep. Lima beans in general want a long, hot season, and Dixie is specifically praised as a great variety for southern gardens because it does well in hot weather and keeps bearing until frost. If your summers have ever made a bean drop its blossoms and quit, Dixie is the answer bred for exactly that complaint.

If you have not grown the species before, start with the Lima Bean growing guide for the general picture, then come back here for what makes this variety different.

How to grow

Direct-sow Dixie after the soil has warmed in spring — limas want genuinely warm soil, warmer than snap beans do, so do not rush them. Sow about an inch deep, 4-6 inches apart in rows 24-36 inches apart, in full sun. In Florida, a spring sowing gives you a long summer harvest; a late-summer sowing can also work where the season runs long. Plants stay compact and bushy, so no support is needed, but give them room: crowded limas in humid air invite disease.

Work worm castings into the bed at planting and mulch to hold moisture. Like all legumes, Dixie fixes nitrogen with rhizobium bacteria, so skip nitrogen fertilizer. Keep the bed weed-free early — limas compete poorly with weeds when young, and a weedy start costs you the season.

Water & feeding

About an inch of water a week, steady through flowering and pod-fill. Inconsistent water means dropped flowers and poorly filled pods — the classic lima disappointment. Water at the base rather than overhead where you can; wet foliage in humid weather invites the leaf diseases limas are prone to. Mulch holds moisture and keeps the root zone steadier through hot spells.

Common problems

  • Aphids and bean beetles — handpick, blast aphids with water, and encourage ladybugs.
  • Leaf diseases in humid weather — space for airflow, water at the base, and do not work wet plants.
  • Poor germination in cool soil — the most common lima failure. Wait for warm soil; cold, wet soil rots the seed.
  • Pods not filling — usually drought at flowering or heat stress at the wrong moment. Steady water at bloom is the fix.

Harvest

Pick Dixie pods when they are plump and the beans inside are clearly swollen but the pods are still green and flexible, about 75 days from sowing — sometimes sooner in warm conditions. Shell and cook thoroughly before eating; like all lima beans, Dixie is a cooked bean, never a raw-snacking bean. For dry use, let pods dry fully on the plant, then shell and store airtight. Dixie keeps bearing until frost, so keep picking and it keeps paying.

Nerdy fact: In parts of the South, butter beans and lima beans are treated as two different vegetables at the dinner table even though they are the same species — the small, creamy Sieva types like Dixie get the butterpea name, while the big flat ones keep the lima name. Same plant, two identities, and strong opinions about both at family reunions.

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Saving seeds

Dixie Butterpea is a bush-type baby lima, a traditional Southern variety, so it comes true from seed — save seed from your best pods and let it dry fully before storing. The full method is in the Saving seeds section of the Lima Bean guide.