Another crop that I thought had been completely done-for by the dry spell were the runner beans. They've been gamely flowering all summer but without setting any fruit. I think it's just been too hot and dry for them this year.
Today I noticed that one of the flowers appeared to have a yellow centre. How strange, I thought, a bi-coloured bean. A closer look showed me that I was wrong about that. But underneath the flower with the Goldenrod spider* was something even stranger: yes, a young runner bean! So maybe this is another back-from-the dead vegetable.
*"The Goldenrod Spider is a member of the crab spider family. It is best known for its ability to change its color from white to yellow in order to camouflage among flowers. Goldenrod Spiders are found wherever there are yellow and white flowers." Clearly this particular specimen is colour-blind...
3 comments:
I bought a runner bean plant (a single one from outside a house) with the intention of growing it up a trellis for the sake of its flowers. I put it in water to revive it a bit before planting . . . and that was as far as it got.
I've only had a few runner beans on my plants too. I put it down to the extreme heat and dry season we have had. Even though I've watered on a regular basis they just haven't been producing like they have in other years.
Glad it's not just my beans that are playing coy!
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