Thursday, August 28, 2014

Scarlet Runner Beans

Decades ago, we lived in a small townhouse with no backyard. 
It did, however, have a concrete patio with fencing on three sides.
I decided I would plant flowers in the narrow dirt strips
where the fence's support posts were anchored.
I don't know why, 
but I never considered planting anything in a pot or planter.


So on one side I grew marigolds in the few inches of soil  available.
On the other, I planted scarlet runner beans.
Unfortunately, the runner beans I grew 
looked nothing like the lush, colorful vine pictured on the seed packet.
The foliage was straggly and pale, leggy at the bottom, weak at the top.
The only parts of the plant that were beautiful
were the tiny scarlet blossoms.
This image is a good facsimile:
photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jason-riedy/2787089684/">
Jason Riedy</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> 
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>

I hadn't thought of that gardening adventure for years.
Only today because I ran across a photo of scarlet runner beans
in an article about the best flowers for late August/early September.
The photo showed an incredibly lush vine 
covered in a profusion of vermilion red blossoms.
My mom used to say, believe none of what you hear
and only half of what you see.
Good advice, particularly when looking at incredibly 
beautiful photos of scarlet runner beans.
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