PlantFiles: Runner Bean
Phaseolus coccineus 'Scarlet Runner'

This is a very versatile bean. Use as a green bean, a shelling bean, and as a dried bean. Something no one else has mentioned: here in California the plants are perennial. Don't pull out the roots and next year your plants will spring out of the ground and be flowering before your soil warms enough to plant other varieties. This year I didn't get most of my vegetable garden planted, but I sure had plenty of green, shell and dry beans!

My zip code shows me as being in Volcano, HI, but the rainfall in Fern Forest is significantly higher at 12-20 inches/month. Adapting my gardening from Santa Cruz, CA to this particular micro-climate is proving quite a challenge. Scarlet Runner Beans have been VERY successful, so far. They stand up to spells of rain and bounce back from vog. I'd like to promote their growing locally and to that end, I'd like to get more definitive information on the danger of eating them raw. Is it sufficient to keep away from the bean seed itself? I am accustomed to eating the very young ones raw in salad, cooking them as green beans when they get larger and then when they develop a significant seed size, using them as dried beans.

This edible bean has often been related to the story "Jack and the Beanstalk". It's a very tall vine, beautiful bright red flowers, and black lima type beans that make a pretty good black bean soup. Said to have come to New England States with the British troops during the American Revolution in the 1770's. It's an absolute "must have" for your hummingbird patch or children's garden.

i've grown these for years in Seattle - they're prolific and i grow them on a trellis outside my office window so i can watch the hummingbirds.

we mostly pick them small before any seed develops, but i discovered that grilling is a great way to use the larger ones that escape our notice -- i toss 6-10 8" beans in a bag w 1 t of olive oil, then toss them on the grill for a coupla minutes each side. great alone, or added to a salad.

steve

As an ex pat Brit I can tell you that this is the most eagerly awaited vegetable in England, somewhat like you guys waiting for the sweet corn. As a vegetable, pick them before they form round lumps ( the bean ) and slice them. A Krisk slicer is the best tool I have found over here and is available online for around $5:00. they are best if steamed or boiled for about 8 minutes and they are still light green. If you overcook them they turn dark green and lose the tenderness and flavour. Once sliced they can be frozen for six months or more and can be put into the pan whilst still frozen. When I lived in Pennsylvania I grew them quite successfully as long as I put manure in a trench, covered it with about two inches of topsoil and planted the seed into the soil. They require a lot of watering and I always used a leaky hose. Picking them was great as the humming birds were flitting in and out of the blossoms whilst I was picking. Since moving to Charleston, South Carolina I have not tried to grow them yet. I suspect that the heat of summer will compromise the plants although I did read somewhere on line that they could be planted in September. I would welcome any advice from anyone who has successfully grown them in the South

This a beautiful, rapid growing bean, but flavorwise, it's nothing I'd run up hill for.

One of the oldest runner beans now in existence. First documented in 1750. Good for use as either small snaps, sliced pods or green shells; used in place of limas in cooler climates. Highly ornamental. Pole habit, 65 days.

We purchased a 6 pack of seedlings at a local fundraiser and planted them immediately. I ammended our poor soil (clay) with a 50-50 mix of planting mix and compost. The plants didn't even shock, they took off at once. I've placed them along a 12' length of deer fence (about 5' hi) and they have taken it over, completely concealing the landlord's car while it rusts into nothingness. We've harvested enough young beans for 3 dinners, more are still growing. I plan to leave about half the yeild on the vines to harvest fully developed beans at the end of the season.

This is by far my favorite pole bean - in fact, it is the only one I've grown now for the last several years. Suitable for both the vegetable &/or the flower garden, this highly ornamental veggie with its bright scarlet flowers attracts hummingbirds & pollinating bees both. (And although obviously not called "Scarlet" runner, there are also salmon pink & red/white bicolor varieties now as well.)

Vines climb & attach themselves to their supports easily with no assistance necessary. I've grown them on traditional 6-8' bamboo teepees in the garden, & this year I may try a few on some plastic netting along one side of my deck. If using teepees, be forwarned to stake/install them solidly, as a full teepee can topple easily in the wind.

Flowers are edible with a light, beany flavor, & make a bright & tasty addition & garnish to salads. Although edible as such, I've never eaten the beans as "shell beans", but prefer instead to enjoy the young flat pods - stringed, sliced into 1-2" pieces, & steamed or boiled - as one would a flat Italian/Romano-type string bean, which these strongly resemble. Dressed with a little butter, salt, pepper, & perhaps some marjoram, they are absolutely DELICIOUS, with a beanier flavor than your regular green bean.

Gorgeous plant, pretty beans, decent taste. This bean grows vigorously, putting out long runners. The runners remain covered with bright red flowers for a long time. Then large, bumpy bright green pods form. Immature, the beans are neon pink. Leave to mature on the vine and they turn a speckled maroon-purple. Not the best-tasting beans in the world, but quite edible. The plant makes a wonderful display on a fence or trellis.