Scarlet Runner Beans are not only ornamental, they are edible as well.

 

In some seed catalogues they are listed both under vegetables and flowers, making them a good choice for an edible landscape.

 

Scarlet Runner Beans are a vining plant that grows 1.8 -2 meters in length. They produce clusters of large 2cm bright red flowers that attract bees and hummingbirds. The edible green beans are tasty and tender when eaten young, and if left on the plant to mature they can be shelled and eaten fresh or dried.

 

Whether you decide to plant them in the flower bed or the vegetable garden, they are fast growing and easy to grow. They do require a long growing season of 75-80 days and cannot handle a frost which can be a challenge for Prince George gardeners.

 

 To get a head start,  the seeds can be started indoors in peat pots in late April, early May and then be later transplanted outside after all risk of frost has passed.

 

Another option would be to plant the seeds directly into the garden and then cover them with a frost protection blanket such as Reemay that will keep a few degrees of frost out as well as warm up the soil.

 

 Beans are a heat loving plant and if the soil is cold the seeds could rot. Plant beans in a sunny location, in a fertile well drained soil. The plants are a twining plant and will not need to be tied, but they do need support, so when planting the seeds place them near an arch, fence, poles, arbor etc.

 

As beans do not like their roots disturbed it is better to have the support ready before planting the seeds or transplants. There are many innovative ways of supporting the vines. You could create a teepee, by getting 6-8 poles and securing them in the ground forming a large circle, slanting them so that they all meet at the top where they are tied. 2-3 beans are placed at the base of each pole and will twine up the poles.

 

Or, you could make a maypole by securing one pole in the centre and have 6-8 strings come down on an angle from the top and placed around the pole. The beans are planted at the base of each string.

 

I have seen gardens that are fenced, and the gardeners planted the Scarlet Runners along the fence so that the beans grew on the fence. That is a great way to attract bees to the garden, especially if you are planting squash plants that rely on pollination, and zucchini etc grow well with beans.

 

 In the flower garden the beans can be planted along a trellis, arbor, pergola, arch, or even a wall. To cover a wall with beans, attach string or netting to the top of the wall and hang it down and secure it to the ground. Plant the seeds a few centimetres away from the wall. By the end of the summer the entire wall will be covered with flowers and beans.

 

If you do not have a garden you can plant a few seeds in a deep 30 cm or more large container, place a support in it and have the beans grow on your deck or patio.

 

Scarlet runner beans are one of those plants that have many attributes. They are edible, attractive, invite hummingbirds and bees to the garden, take very little space as they grow vertical instead of horizontal and are easy to grow!