In Praise of the Scarlet Runner Bean

I wanted to write an ode to the Scarlet Runner Bean, but instead I’ll settle for an essay. For now, at least.

The first time I heard someone talk about a Scarlet Runner Bean they did it with a beatific smile on their face. It was said almost reverently: Scarlet Runner Bean. Ah, yes.

I planted the beans along the fence where my garden is. Scarlet Runners, are, as the name suggests, climbing beans. The running part did not disappoint me. The bean part did. They got large: wide and hairy. Maybe even stringy, I don’t remember. I was unimpressed. I vowed not to plant them again.

Oh you knave, Scarlet Runner. I didn’t plant them again, but they planted themselves. Those beans I gave up on last summer dried, fell, germinated, and came back this year.

I admit it. I have a soft spot in my heart for “volunteers” as my mom called the plants that come back on their own. I dug up those little volunteer Scarlet Runners and lined them up along the fence once more.

I also intentionally planted some other Scarlet Runners into a bean teepee in a garden at the community center I run. They do climb so well and bloom so beautifully red.