Annie-lee, from your description, I have to wonder whether what you have are runner beans. Not all runner beans have scarlet flowers; some are white, pink, salmon orange, or bi-colored - but to my knowledge, not purple. Purple is a color more often found in the blossoms of common beans. Regardless of the color, runner beans tend to have flowers in large clusters, which is a characteristic of the species. The cotyledons (seed leaves) remain underground after germination, unlike common beans. Runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) are indeed edible; there are several good threads about them on the Bean Forum. For the English & those with cool climates (such as the Pacific Northwest) they represent a good alternative to conventional snap beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) which can be disease-prone under those conditions. They are very popular in Europe, where there has been a greater emphasis on breeding new varieties. The young pods of scarlet runner can be eaten as snaps, but have a slightly courser texture than you might be used to. If the pods are allowed to mature, the seeds within will be quite large - but they are often thick-skinned, and can have an unusual flavor. Personally, if you are able to grow P. vulgaris (for snaps) or limas (for shell beans), I find them to be superior in both yield & quality for their respective purposes. If you wish to grow runner beans for consumption, I would recommend obtaining one of the far superior European cultivars. Thompson & Morgan and Gourmet Seed International are two of the best sources. There are many threads about runner beans on GW; I have one on the Bean Forum just titled "Runner Beans", where I discuss their use as shellies. Another thread focuses on the pods, in the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Runner beans, have you ever eaten them?

Scarlet runner bean is one of the older runner beans native to North America and cultivated for its edible and ornamental properties. ©2001 blossom I grow it for many reasonsÂmainly to feed hummingbirds and myself. In addition, the plant sets nitrogen in the soil. I pick a spot along the fence line to let this grow up somewhere in the garden and vary its position from year to year. Some Native American tribes regard the bean as a sacred plant. Many parts of the plant are edible, such as the pods (for green beans), dried beans, starchy roots, and edible flowers that are bean-like in taste. Use the dried beans as a substitute for garbanzo beans, limas or the Great Northern bean, and for refried beans. Since we cannot grow limas well enough in our cool Northwest climate, the scarlet runner is a good substitute. P. 'Scarlet Emperor' is a variety developed for eating them like other string beans. Harvest the pods when they are three or four inches long; after that they develop strings and parchment. Prepare and cook pods as you would other green beans. Harvest the beans when the pods have dried on the vine. Because the vine is a tender perennial, it's grown as an annual in the Pacific Northwest. Provide netting or string to train the runner beans up trellises, or arbors, at least 6 feet high. The vine is very showy and used to screen porches or twining up obelisks and other supports. Dig the roots up in fall, store them the same way as dahlias, and replant the following spring. I find this method of digging them up more trouble than itÂs worth, since the vines are easy to start from seed each year. Phaseolus coccineus is an excellent bee and hummingbird plant.

They canned up very well! I did 7 pints of Runners, 7 pints of mixed yellow/purple Romas and 13 pints of Romanos today. Two pints of Romanos didn't seal, so we were forced to eat them. Such a pity... ;-)

Organicburro, sorry for the late response... barrier crops are nectar and/or pollen sources planted between different varieties of the same species when seed saving. They not only provide a physical barrier, they also provide a stopping point for bees, a place to "wipe their feet" so to speak. This means that they are less likely to carry pollen between the two varieties being saved. For a barrier crop to be effective, it must bloom at the same time as the plants it divides. For this reason, trellises of pole lima beans & runner beans (which flower freely) make good barriers between different varieties of common pole beans (which flower sparsely). Along with distance & the interspersed planting of good pollen sources (like cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers, and cucurbits) it decreases the chances of cross-pollination between the beans. However, the varieties being saved should not be grown immediately next to the barrier crop; they should still have some distance between them, perhaps 25-50 feet if possible. It has been mentioned that the British have bred runner beans for their pods, and have many named varieties. Organicburro shared a source on another thread, which is in the link below; they carry many named cultivars of runner bean, most of which are very hard to find in the U.S. Here is a link that might be useful: Gourmet Seed International