Cranberry Cousins
Bursting with color, Italian Rose Bush Beans actually hail from Mexico and are related to cranberries.
I just think these Italian Rose Beans are so beautiful. Why do supermarkets limit us to boring old green beans when there’s so much variety out there?
These babies germinated easily and sprung up to their full size, (12″ – 18″), in about a month and produced so many beans that I’m letting roughly half the crop dry on the branches. Best of all? Because they’re a bush bean, they don’t require trellises or poles and are strong enough to sustain their own weight. Of all the vegetables I planted, these beans were most pest-resistant and drought-resilient of them all. I’ll definitely plant them next time around, too!
Maybe I picked them too young, but my beans were a creamy white rather than mirroring the shells’ bright exteriors. I’ve prowled around on the Internet, however, and it looks like more mature beans will be brighter. But I just couldn’t wait.
the flying farmers 
3 Responses to “Cranberry Cousins”
I may have to add these to my list. We’ve had awful luck with pole beans this year and will switch to bush (with maybe one pole) next year. Were they stringy?
They weren’t stringy, but I found the shells to be a bit tough to gnaw on when served raw. (One thing to note: if you cook this variety, they lose all their pretty color. I’ve tried blanching and lemon to preserve its brilliance but to no avail…) I’ve crept around on other garden blogs and it doesn’t sound like other Italian Rose growers had that problem, so I’m wondering if it’s just the funny weather we’ve had this summer that’s to blame. It’d be interesting to know how they fare in a different garden zone.
Cool beans, LOL, literally! I’ve never seen them in that color before. Great post!