purple runner beans

[David P]

Hello there all

Last year I bought some purple runner beans from our local city farm, and I'd love to grow some this year.  Has any one got any idea where I could buy some seeds?

Hope you can help

Dave

[David P]

[aj]

Your local city farm?

[artichoke]

Are they in fact climbing French beans, not runners? I have purple climbing bean Blauhilde from Thompson and Morgan, for example, and there are quite a lot of different purple climbers from various seedsmen.

[tomatoada]

I have looked for purple runner beans myself.     I grow purple peas and French beans.   So easy to pick, and taste good.
But I have never found purple runner bean seeds or seen any beans for sale.
So I hope you get some replies.

[Robert_Brenchley]

There are 'black' varieties with seed that turn purple at one point. Mature seeds are jet black.

[Jeannine]

I have a runner bean which is called Ayocote Morado Purple Runner bean, the pods are green though but the seeds are a deep plain purple with no streaking on

XX Jeannine

[Jayb]

I've not heard of purple runners, but they sound interesting, is it the pod that is purple or the seed?
I grew Black pod runners last year, seeds came from the Heritage Seed Library. I thought they were a lovely bean, bright red flowers and pods that matured to a dark red-burgundy colour.

I have a runner bean which is called Ayocote Morado Purple Runner bean, the pods are green though but the seeds are a deep plain purple with no streaking on

These sound good too, are you going to be growing these this year?

[Jeannine]

Jay I am not sure, I have been collecting runners for a couple of years now and have a pretty good selection. I can grow 3 types I think and manage to isolate them but have not yet decided which ones. If I do I will send you some seeds later in the year.

XX Jeannine

[Digeroo]

The HSL have a purple/black runner bean grew them last year, though I would call them red rather than purple.  Interesting as a novelty but not particularly productive tended to go stringy.

I agree that what you bought was a more likely to be a climbing french.  They are much more productive and good flavour.  Unwins have one called Cascade which is supposed to keep its colour when cooked.

[Paulh]

Could they be lablab / hyacinth beans?

[Big Gee]

Hi All!

Just come across this forum and thought I'd contribute on this Purple Runner Bean thread.

I have been trialling a 'sport' of Polestar for the last couple of years. It's a purple/ black podded bean, and if left to mature produces jet black beans. It has come true from collected seeds and I'm fairly confident that it's here to stay. It's been 'christened' "AERON PURPLE STAR" (Aeron from my location and 'Star' as a tribute to it's ancestry - as it came from a Polestar parent). It has a slightly better flavour than Polestar, it's very similar in size & length, is more vigorous and like Polestar it's stringless.



I have no interest in going down the commercial route, but as a keen allotment gardener of nearly 40 years I'm more than happy to share my baby with others. You're welcome to get in touch if you want some beans to try. The only stipulation I make is that you pass on the name if you share the bean with others.

If you want more information then download a copy of my latest news-letter from
http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/newsletters/avas_newsletter_08-13.htm
You'll find more information about this bean there along with photos of it.

I hope that helps in a small way! You can also follow my blog in The Gardeners chat Shed (http://gardenerschat-shed.net/) which is a social networking site that I run for gardeners or visit my award winning allotment gardening site at:

http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk

A note to the moderators of this site: this is NOT an attempt to hi-jack any of your members, neither is it an attempt at advertising my web-sites. I simply want to help all your readers to get the most out of their allotment gardening. After all, allotment gardeners are a wide community and "Gardening knowledge unshared is gardening knowledge wasted" regardless of where that knowledge comes from.

Kind regards to you all. I will be contributing more here in the future.

G. 

[GrannieAnnie]

TeeGee, do you eat the whole bean or the seeds inside that monster? We grow a purple bean every year but not for the seeds. I like it because it fruits earlier than the green pole beans and doesn't even need full sun though it does better with full sun.
(I hope you call the doc about not feeling well and dragging around. Could be some other imbalance rather than your new med.  NurseNag)

[Big Gee]

TeeGee, do you eat the whole bean or the seeds inside that monster? We grow a purple bean every year but not for the seeds. I like it because it fruits earlier than the green pole beans and doesn't even need full sun though it does better with full sun.
(I hope you call the doc about not feeling well and dragging around. Could be some other imbalance rather than your new med.  NurseNag)

Hi Gran!

Thank you very much for your concern (thanks also for dropping in to view my blog in The Gardeners Chat-Shed) It's Big Gee not Tee Gee by the way - I'm the newbie here!

It could well be an imbalance, although my imbalances are taken pretty good care of through my daily intake of home brewed Kombucha! (http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/kombucha/index.html) It's probably a combination of the new medication & possibly a little nasty virus that's chosen it's time to attack. I won't go into details here but I do suffer from an auto immune system disorder called Behçet's disease, so it's sometimes difficult to pin-point the culprit.

Anyway, I am feeling better so hopefully I'll be out of the woods in a few days.

The AERON PURPLE STARS - as I've called them - are RUNNER beans (Phaseolus coccineus) In the States I believe they are also known as string, green, scarlet runner bean, multiflora bean & snap beans - to name but a few. Over here many call them kidney bean, although strictly speaking that is not a runner bean.

To cut a long story short - the picture you saw was of a maturing bean pod, it won't be picked for eating, rather the beans will be collected & dried and then they'll be refrigerated and planted next year. The ones used for the kitchen are picked slightly earlier and are sliced in the pod & usually served with butter & pepper.

The unforgettable taste of summer for every allotment gardener!

G.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'm growing Black Pod, and it does look similar. If you have any spare seeds of this one, I'd be interested!

[Big Gee]

I'm growing Black Pod, and it does look similar. If you have any spare seeds of this one, I'd be interested!

You're very welcome Robert. I'll be keeping a good quantity as bean seeds for next year's sowing (now that I know they come true).

Later on in the autumn I'll know exactly how many I'll have for sharing - it'll be first come first served. let me know how many you want.

G.

[lottie lou]

I enjoyed reading your newsletter Big Gee.

[Big Gee]

I enjoyed reading your newsletter Big Gee.

Thanks Lottie Lou! I always say if just one person gets any enjoyment out of it or learns something new from it then it's worth my effort.

I publish it bimonthly. I used to do it every month but that was a bit of a workload, between running two websites and caring for a full sized lottie (I was starting to dream about nothing but allotments & keyboards!).

If you want to subscribe click on this hyperlink:

http://aeronvale-allotments.org.uk/newsletters

G.

[Jayb]

Your Aeron Purple Stars look great, a good find 
If you have enough, I'd love to try some next year? As Robert says Blackpod looks similar in colour. I'm growing them again this year, they are a nice bean and I love the pod colour, although they are not a very long bean. Perhaps you would like some to compare?

[pumkinlover]

A note to the moderators of this site: this is NOT an attempt to hi-jack any of your members, neither is it an attempt at advertising my web-sites. I simply want to help all your readers to get the most out of their allotment gardening. After all, allotment gardeners are a wide community and "Gardening knowledge unshared is gardening knowledge wasted" regardless of where that knowledge comes from.

Kind regards to you all. I will be contributing more here in the future.

G. 
No problems Big Gee!

[Big Gee]

Your Aeron Purple Stars look great, a good find 
If you have enough, I'd love to try some next year? As Robert says Blackpod looks similar in colour. I'm growing them again this year, they are a nice bean and I love the pod colour, although they are not a very long bean. Perhaps you would like some to compare?

Great - that sounds good to me Jayb.

The Aeron Purple Star is a long bean (very similar to Polestar which is one of it's parents). It has all the same attributes, tastes exceptionally good and is as stringless as Polestar.

On the subject of purple things, I tried Salad Blue potatoes this year - knocked out by them! The taste was fantastic and as the potato is blue all the way through they make real novelty chips & baked potato. When boiled they still retain the blue colour but it's much lighter, still a novelty though.

Perhaps the future is purple!

Looks like I'm going to have to open an order book! It'll be first come first served - when they run out that'll be it for another year, but as time goes on the stock will increase.

Let me know how many you want.

G.