Very true. Runner beans are more popular in Europe. They like cool climates. Much more ornamental than P. vulgaris with large scarlet, pink, apricot, white or multi-colored blossoms. Lots of folks here grow runner beans, so they will provide more detail.

Ditto on Farmerdilla's comments.

When we in the U.S. say "pole beans", "bush beans", "green beans", or "snap beans", we are generally referring to P. vulgaris. I often refer to them as "common beans", which is an English translation of the Latin vulgaris. In the U.K., they would be referred to as "French beans".

Runner beans (P. coccineus) are mostly climbers, hence the name. There are only a few bush varieties. They are also good as snaps... in fact, "snap beans" in the U.K. are almost always runner beans.

As Farmerdilla mentioned, runner beans thrive in cooler weather, where common beans struggle. In the U.S. they do well in the Pacific Northwest and areas with cool maritime climate. They do not like hot weather, so common beans are better for areas with warm summers.

Some runner beans (especially white-seeded ones) are often misidentified as common beans or limas. When in doubt, observe the cotyledons (the seed halves). For runner beans, these stay below the ground during germination. The cotyledons emerge for common beans & limas.

thanks!

On a practical level, I'm zone 4. Would that make runner beans a better choice for me?
Flavor-wise are regular beans much different from runner beans?

Pic. of Runner bean.

{{gwi:132847}}

Runner beans have good looking foliage and flowers with vivid colors.They are good productive too.Few plants in flower garden stand out as good looking flowering vines.

"On a practical level, I'm zone 4. Would that make runner beans a better choice for me?"

Probably not. I'm borderline Zone 4/5 here. Most Zone 4 is continental climate, with wide temperature extremes... very cold winters, short but hot summers. The heat is the killer; runner beans don't set many beans during hot weather, and those pods that form are usually short & poorly developed. By the time the temps cool enough for blossom set to improve, frost is just around the corner. Common beans are better adapted to such weather.

"Flavor-wise are regular beans much different from runner beans?"

A little different, perhaps. To me, runner beans are sweeter & meatier than most common beans... and definitely thicker. The outside skin is a little more course. There doesn't seem to be as much variation in flavor as there is between different varieties of common beans, but that may be different in the U.K., where they have put more emphasis on breeding new varieties.

Here in San Francisco, both pole and runner beans have done exceptionally well for me. I've only planted a couple varieties of pole beans, though. For me, the main difference is taste. For dry beans, runners have been better producers. They make decent snap beans if you pick them young, they do get stringy and tough rather quickly.

As for taste, that is indeed a matter of taste. I don't know about sweeter or meatier. To me the inside has a nice creamy texture, but tastes rather bland. And I agree with Zeedman that the skin is more coarse (I would have said thicker). Not to the point that it's offensive, but you will notice a difference.

Since climate doesn't seem to be a big issue, you might want to plant some of both, unless you want snaps only, in which case I would stick with pole beans and a few Scarlet Runners for the hummingbirds.