This beautiful plant is as valuable for the mixed border as it is for the vegetable garden/potager. The foliage is bright chartreuse/yell...Read Moreow, and it's ornamentally valuable as soon as it gets a little bulk. The flowers are a brilliant orange, not red. They attract hummingbirds and make an excellent cut flower.
Runner beans need a deep root run of at least 15". Soil is best prepared the autumn before planting.
Plant when soil is warm and no longer saturated. (I wait till oak leaves are as large as a squirrel's ear, which is corn planting time.) Plant beans 2" deep and 6" apart. Best yield is with 2 plants per square foot.
Put in supports before planting so as not to damage the fleshy roots. Runner beans can get 8-10' tall (15' in long-summer climates) and are heavy when bearing.
As with other runner beans, this cultivar likes cool summer climates, and its flowering takes a break if the weather gets too hot for too long, especially at night. It also stops flowering if you stop picking and let the beans mature fully.
Drought-sensitive.
This bean is no more poisonous than any other bean. All beans contain toxic lectins which can cause gastrointestinal distress but which are destroyed on cooking. They should not be eaten raw.
The pods make a great wide green bean if harvested before the beans swell. I really like the flavor, which is stronger in this species than with other green beans. It also produces a good dried bean as well, a showy violet and black before cooking.
Comes true from seed if grown in isolation from other runner beans.
This beautiful plant is as valuable for the mixed border as it is for the vegetable garden/potager. The foliage is bright chartreuse/yell...Read More