Welcome to A4A. Your bean looks very interesting. Does it stay purple when cooked. I am very interested and would like a few too. Are they purple when young.
Have you tried Mrs Lewis's purple podded. They are a climbing French very productive. Seem to have got a few runner genes because they produce large bunches of beans.
The Heritage seed library put 10 in a packet and I find that a good number of trying something out.
Well done for creating a new breeding. I had a great bean which tolerated dry conditions, and was getting very excited about it and then managed to kill them off with contaminated manure.
I like your name too Aer on Purple Star has a good ring to it.
Thank you for your kind words Digeroo!
The Aer on Purple Star is a true runner. I find that French beans tend to have more purple varieties but purple runners tend to be a bit rarer, although there was a very popular black/ purple runner that was grown locally up in the Black Country (very apt area name!) a long time ago. It was very local though, and grown almost uniquely amongst allotments in that part of the country. I can't remember the name of it. Perhaps someone else on here can recall what it was, I seem to think it was
something like Black Beauty. It might have sneaked into the ancestry of my APS - who know. I haven't come across Mrs Lewis' purple podded - do you know where that's come from & where I can get my hands on some?
The APS does loose it's striking colour when cooked, but it is darker on the plate than standard green runners. It's also very vigorous, long podded & stringless.
You're very welcome to some of the beans to try - come the autumn when I harvest the mature pods. I'll send you 10 of them. Mail me with your address. I'm currently compiling a list of who wants some.
G.
