Is it wrong to grow something edible just because they are beautiful, and not because they are edible? These beans are the offspring of the same kind of beans we gathered off a vine, in a sunny garden, behind a dingy little hotel in Oamaru, New Zealand. The night before, we had just made acquaintances with the little blue penguins – some of the cutest creatures we have ever seen.
We brought those beans back with us, and our little gardener kept them in a safe place until we had our own garden. We started growing them in the spring once the ground was no longer frozen. We then carefully and patiently took care of the young bean plants, transplanting them into a sunny spot by the fence. They started to grow, and blossomed, but no beans were to be found for weeks and weeks. Until recently, when the temperature dropped down below 80˚F. Little did we know, these scarlet beauties don't do well in high heat (no wonder they thrived in New Zealand), and will only start to pod in the right temperature zone.
Have we eaten them? No. But we are hoping to keep the seeds for next year's harvest to simply enjoy its beauty and re-live our days from down-under.
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