Scarlet Runner Bean
Phaseolus coccineus
A Central American native praised by 18th-century English garden writer, Philip Miller, Scarlet Runner Bean remains a popular food source in Europe, but is primally grown as an ornamental in America. Their flowers attract hummingbirds. Scarlet Runner Beans benefit from support by a trellis.
Jefferson recorded this lovely bean with its showy flowers at Monticello in 1812: "Arbor beans white, crimson, scarlet, purple...on long walk of garden." The Scarlet Runner is a Central American native that was popularized by Philip Miller, the great English eighteenth-century garden writer. Although Bernard McMahon noted in 1806 that it was grown exclusively as an ornamental, Scarlet Runner Bean is still regularly grown in Europe for its edible bean.
In Bloom at Monticello is made possible by support from The Richard D. and Carolyn W. Jacques Foundation.
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Heirloom Seeds and Plants from the Monticello collection
Plant history in your gardens with seeds and plants from Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
