Beans
I plant beans for their flowers, whose beauty often rivals that of the sweet peas, but their fruit can be just as pretty.
The delicate blossoms turn into deep ruby, yellow or royal purple pods which hold inside a bounty too pretty to eat: red, black, purple, speckled, variegated beans in a range of shapes and patterns that seems inexhaustible.
Last year I found several stunning varieties, which I’m looking forward to planting again next spring.
Tongues of Fire, a bush variety from Terra del Fuego, with lime green pods stained by blood red splotches.
Slippery Silks are brick colored, both the pods and the beans inside. Who says the vegetable garden can’t be pretty?
The 1500 year old cave beans are an ancient Southwestern variety whose cow hide purple and white patterns turn cooking baked beans into an art project.
We can’t leave out the Scarlet Runner beans, named after their splendid coral flowers. The pods are dull green, and rather stringy, but they hide inside huge purple, maroon and white speckled beans.
Last, the wax beans, whose yellow pods need no introduction, and my absolute favorites Trionfo Violetto, a pole variety with large, dark purple pods that look almost black in bright sunshine, a perfect match for their two tone magenta flowers.
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