I finally grew out Flamingo this year. I got the seed in a swap in 2013- don't know who it came from, don't say on the tag. It was a big swap, every year I grow a couple kinds in isolation to try out and get seed stock on. I started them a bit early inside, and once they had a nice set of leaves transplanted them out. 10 seeds, 100% germination. They got planted into a 20?gallon tote along the back edge of the tote in a single row. I planted in parsley to fill in the front of the tote. I used 2x4" wire mesh fencing for the trellis- 2 foot wide panel accommodated the 10 bean plants nicely with a bit of training to keep them straight. South facing up my front porch. They climbed all the way up and over the lattice of the roof of the porch by a bit, so vines were around 15 feet maybe by the time they stopped. Not particularly plush on foliage, more vining than leafing. Not a particularly heavy producer- but then that's because I grew it out more for seed stock than eating off of, and I know not picking beans can make them less productive in general. Off the 10 plants we got the first blush taste and a couple 6-10 bean harvests to taste before I left the plant to just make a few more beans to fully mature out. Had a problem after the first tasting picks while the seed beans were about mid-season- in the middle of August while I was out of town the drip system failed and a bunch of fresh blooms and baby pods went zptht. But the plant recovered well after I got back and produced many good seed pods. First couple beans on the vine were more greenish with blush- but I picked them early so we could try them- very tasty fresh off the plant. Patient enough to wait for the next beans to really show their colors- and they did, lovely rose and yellow mottled streaking goodness like in the pictures already posted. Even better tasting than the first couple. Very fresh and beany with a good crisp mouthfeel, juicy without being watery, good skins that were delicate to the bite. An excellent fresh bean for salads and fresh veggy trays types of eating. Didn't get far enough for trying cooked- the few we raided got eaten right up fresh before there was even a chance. The rest of the beans I just let grow out for seed. I got several pods that yielded up about 90 seeds. Not enough to try as a eating dry bean, but seed a plenty to grow out. The pods were lovely, and kept up nice color while drying out till they really started drying and the pods were then more of a dark mahogany/chestnut streaked color- still fairly appealing and easy to see among the foliage. The bean seeds themselves were nicely speckled like in above pictures... coloration reminded me of a milky way bar with the pale nougat and milk chocolate. Overall a very solid bean with a lovely trellising habit nice enough to dress the porch with that tastes great. I will grow it again sometime in the future.

Thanks! I did end up looking at ‘Souvenir de PIerre Notting ‘ on HMF, and disappeared down that rabbit hole for quite some time. They do look quite similar in some photos, especially where Dr. Manners holds them side by side. I ended up adding my pictures to HMF’s photos for ‘Flamingo Gardens Tea’ since there weren’t that many others. Lisa

I liked Dancing Flamingo last year when you posted it and I like it again!! Razor Sharp may be on short scapes but it is still a stunning bloom. I don't know about the scapes either. Mine have been up and down in these stats this year. Last year was a "lowly" year for scapes. This year, some are blooming low and others normal. I posted on one of my posts that I have two clumps of Down Home three clumps apart in my garden. One is blooming low and one is normal. As a matter of fact, I took photos this morning of that. Both planted at same time, both normal last year, and then not this year. So who knows? It can be disappointing to walk out and have to divide the fan leaves to see your flowers!!! Kate

I wish I could but I'm not very computer savvy so I don't know how to load pictures on the computer. Does almost any tree send up root suckers if it starts dying?