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Above are some Scarlet Runner Beans, (summer growing) together with some Crimsom Flowering Broad Beans (winter growing).
Both were harvested on the 11th of December 2024.
Scarlet Runner Beans Phaseolus coccineus
Every summer, my grandmother in England used to grow scarlet runner beans.
In England, they are mostly used as a vegetable, while in the United States they are mostly considered to be a garden flower. In Australia, I grow them as both a beautiful flower and a nice vegetable.
Scarlet runner beans are a spring, summer and autumn growing climbing bean, growing to well over 2 metres high if they have support of a fence, trellis or tree. They are mostly an annual, but occasionally a plant can act as a short-lived perennial, coming up for several years in a row.
Unlike many types of bean commonly grown in gardens, they require insect pollination. Our next door neighbour, Craig, has bee hives, so our beans and other vegetables are very well pollinated.
We have a lot of flowers and Craig has bees, so it works out very well.
Scarlet Runner Beans originated in the mountains of Central America, and were probably grown in the highlands of Mexico and Guatemala from about 2000 BC.
The pictures on the right are of a single Scarlet Runner bean plant in our garden in Littlehampton in the Adelaide Hills. The pictures were taken on the 29th of November 2024.
At this time, late spring, the plant was already about two metres long, and had beans forming.
This year, we will have summer beans to eat, overlapping with the broad beans from last winter.
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