Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Hyacinth Bean Vine


MANY moons ago, I found my first hyacinth bean vine at a yard sale and it was love at first sight! I love this vine even though it will swallow up an arbor - all it needs is lots of room. I was told the seeds/pods are poisonous and I've heard they can be eaten...educate yourself, though I can't imagine even wanting to eat them!

Once you have a hyacinth bean vine, all that needs to be done is saving the pods from year to year. They're also good at 'saving' themselves and can pop up in unexpected places - they're a wonderful gift to other gardening friends. The sweet pea-like flower is simply beautiful!
 As seen here in these pictures, it will cover where ever it's planted.
 After their bloom, these purple pods are produced and are lovely in an autumn flower arrangement. I let the pods dry on the vine to collect seeds for the next year and let them in the pod until I want to plant them the next year. The seeds are the size of a pea and black with a white stripe on the edge. It grows up to twenty feet tall and is a twinning vine. I generally give it a little help to get it started by tucking it in and around whatever it's growing on. All around, it's a fascinating plant!
 They do need protection from the bunnies - they so love the tender young plants!

If anyone is interested in seeds to plant in your garden, send me a SASE and I'll be happy to share seeds with you!

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On another note...
Last week I was honored to receive an invite to Home Talk to share my Back to Eden Gardening post.
 I'll be linking more posts there.

11 comments:

Blondie's Journal said...

I started a hyacinth bean plant in early summer and it never took off...wonder what I did wrong? Yours is just beautiful!

XO,
Jane

Laceelola said...

Would love to have some seeds, where do i send the SASE? and when is a good time to plant them, have a perfect place over my rock garden for a trellis and vine, dose it need alot of sun or shade, Can't wait to see!!!
thanks
Lola

Anonymous said...

used to have it growing crazy. it died out for me after some years. ginney

Anonymous said...

do you still have seeds available? I'd like to have some too, please.

fleurcottage said...

frugal noodle, yes there's lots of seeds available, however, your email address is a noreply & i don't want to post our address here. if you could give me another email address i can email our address to you. Esther

Anonymous said...

Hmm, wonder how I fix that... lemme c

Anonymous said...

lexiekinz
AT
yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I love that, and would love some seeds please! It looks to be planted in full sun, I wonder how it would do in shady areas? Thanks so much for sharing!

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Rachel said...

Hi Esther. My mom just gave me some hyacinth bean seeds and I have some questions for you. Do you start the seeds inside first or just plant them outside in the ground? How many plants did you use to cover your arbor like that? And lastly, do you know how they will do in partial shade? Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Hi Esther If you still have some seeds left I would like some. patty_rhodes2001@yahoo.com
You have a beautiful plant I hope to have one just like yours. Thank You Patty

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