foxy, try posting this on the discussions side of this forum. There has been some discussion on this very subject I just can't remember which thread. I don't think this side of the forum (conversations) is very active, you'll have better luck on the discussion side. I just came here by accident today. Annette

Don't worry about it. Runner beans are natural twiners and I can only imagine that despite the dwarfing selection process they still have a yearning to twist about a bit. If the plants are healthy leave them alone.

Oldpot, since you are from the U.K., you are probably accustomed to growing true runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus). "Hestia" is a bush (dwarf) version of the runner bean, and tends to perform poorly in the heat of our Midwest summers (I'm across the lake from you in Wisconsin). If you are close enough to the lake to get cool breezes, or if you can keep them alive until the weather cools, you still might get pods. If this is your first time growing runner beans here, you might be disappointed. I grow quite a few of them for seed, including "Tucomares Chocolate" and "Sunset Runner" this year. While I am able to get pods, they usually come late in the season, unless we have a mid-summer cool spell. The pods also tend to be shorter than when grown in cooler climates. I agree with Fusion, that bush varieties of P. vulgaris (referred to as "French beans" in the U.K.) are the best candidates for late sowing. But there are a few very fast pole varieties that might do well. "Goldmarie" (yellow) and "Early Riser" (green) would be at the top of my list. Both have large, flat pods, and bear heavily in about 60 days.

One pole(climbing vine) beans that I lik best is "Hyasinth". It starts flowering and producing beans from June till November(right now). It flowers and grows beans non-stop, and attracts bees. What is more is that it has the most beautiful fragrant purple flowers and beans. The beans can be harvested young or left to mature. The color and cluster of the beans also are very pretty. It is perhaps better than some mail box flowers or morning glories(which do not have fruits and the flowers are closed most of the time). This past summer I had another pole beans (orange color), Cypress vine, morning glories, passiflora Incarnata, all climbing on the same arch. I have been most happy with Hyasinth beans than the rest combined. I will not plant Cypress vine next year, although I have so much seeds of it. The passiflora will grow back and I will just plant Hyasinth Pole beans and maybe two wild morning glories(non-lobed leaves), which are much pretier than cultivated ones and flowers grow as a bunch. Back to climbing beans: My all time favorite:Hyasinth.