Last spring I planted a few seeds I had been holding onto for 8 years. I had collected them from a fellow fiber-friend on the other side of the state. Jean – are you listening in? All I remember was that I was attracted to these flowers she had growing along her fence and that she was happy to share some seeds. I am sure she told me the plant name, but of course I didn’t write it down at the time.
So with just 3 of these plants along my back fence, I had a glorious fence-ful of viney flowers that I enjoyed through the summer and into the late fall. They even served as a nice back-drop to the preliminary photographs I took of the “Half-note Symphony” shawl.
But I still do not know the name of this flower/plant. Do you?
p.s. If this flower is looking somewhat familiar to you, but you need a larger photo to look at, try this. But beware that it is a 3.8 MB file and could take a while to download depending on your connection speed.
This is look’s like great vine..I love the photo’s especially the flower ..I miss this website..Thank you!!:D
Like a couple of others, I can assure you it is a purple hyacinth bean. Here in North Arkansas they grow as an annual, and our deer love them. I too love them, and plant them every year.
A seed packet! What a fun idea. That will be a fun project. (much more fun than podding the seeds) Thanks for your hard work. I wish I had something here to trade you. I’ll think on it. 🙂
I want to do a seed packet design to make it ‘official’. I’ll let you know when I am ready to get back to pulling the seeds out of the pods (it’s a bit tedious) and making up the packets.
I want some, too, please! 🙂
So glad to get it identified!
I definately would love a fenceful of these!! Let me know what to do so you can send me some seeds. Thanks so much!
It’s definitely a purple hyacinth bean vine. It is a self seeding annual, which means it comes back year after year and I’m in zone 4/5, and it does just fine here. A few beans will turn into a fenceful after a few years, so plant it carefully. Pretty!
Hi M.-J, I did look at the other picture link you sent. It is very close, but slightly different in the leaf and flower structures. Maybe they are related? I had not looked into the genus. I’m definitely nothing close to a horticulturist. I just like pretty flowers. That close-up of the Flikr photo is lovely. My Grandma used to have Bleeding Heart in her flower garden in Canada. It was one of my fags. Thanks for your help!
Yes, I can view that larger, and it does look very much like a bleeding heart to me … did you view the large version of the photo I sent? I searched Google images for bleeding heart and this close up should help you rule it out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mahmood/2056252027/
Have you been able to find a place? I hope you can. It sure is beautiful up there!!
I would love to try some out if you wouldn’t mind. Let me know how much I owe you.
I bet LA is gorgeous right now!
We spent some time in Montana last summer. Loved it so much we are looking possibly at summer place there on west side of Flathead Lake. Maybe if you started seeds inside, there would be time to replant and flower before gets too cold again? I could send you some seeds to try out …
Wow! So incredible!! I guess it also translates to “won’t possibly grow in zone 4 Montans”, LOL
Aw well, I had fun dreaming for a few minutes!!
According to the USDA Hardiness Zone at http://www.garden.org/zipzone/ , I am in zone 9A, whatever that means. 🙂 But I have a feeling it probably translates to something like sub-tropical (or at least that is what it feels like a good part of the year). I am outside New Orleans and bounded by Lake Pontchartrain on one side, MS River on opposite side, and wetlands (i.e. swamp, lol) on another. So the temps stay relatively consistent even when other places might have larger swings in cold weather.
Let me see … I have pics of that vine on June 15 where it already had blooms. The pics in this blog were taken early August. It did much better than I would have ever believed (for just a couple of seeds!) In fact, I was trimming back a lot toward the end of the fall. I sort of felt like Jack in the “Jack in the Beanstalk” story.
Jackie,
What a beautiful vine!! What zone do you live in? The leaves are gorgeous. When does it bloom? Do you remember?
Love your pictures!
no thanks, The self -sowing Grandpa Ott’s morning glory is doing find on my tutour, besides, if I grew something else, I’d have to weed out all those seedlings! Thanks again though!
@stone and @Christine Thanks SO much. This has really been bothering me to not know the name because I’d like to make up some seed packets for family and friends as a small springtime gift. Would you like some?
@M.-J Taylor Were you able to view the larger photo? (you can click on the smaller photo and it will bring up the enlarged view in a separate window). Of course, the flowers are no longer blooming so I can’t take any more pictures. The only thing might be to crop a section of the existing photo and present that on the main page. I will look into that.
I can’t see it closely enough to be sure, but those look like bleeding hearts to me …. see: http://vacationgypsy.blogspot.com/2010/11/gingerbread-scroll-and-breakfast-stroll.html for a photo of something very similar. Can you provide a closer shot of the flower?
Aka Hyacinth Bean… Christine beat me to the response…
Nice job growing them on the fence… I’ve been growing them on a teepee.
Yes, there were tons of pods especially in late fall/early winter. I thought I had caught a few in the photo, but I now see that I managed to miss any that were there when I took these pictures last summer. Thanks for the lead about the possible name. I will do some more research.
It looks a bit like lab lab bean – do you get purple pods in late summer? I’ve read that they eat lab lab in Egypt, but they must process it somehow, because other books warn that it is poisonous. I love those purple/green/black leaves and pods, outside in the garden, though strangely, I almost never wear purple or use in in crafts. It seems like an outside color to me.