Purple Moon Hyacinth Bean is a stunning dual-purpose annual that delivers both visual drama and culinary reward across hardiness zones 3, 11. This open-pollinated heirloom variety grows as a vigorous vining plant, reaching 8 to 10 feet tall, and produces deep purple pods alongside equally striking purple flowers that make it as ornamental as it is edible. Mature pods are ready to harvest in 90 to 99 days, though some sources report faster maturity around 68 days. The combination of heat tolerance, drought resilience, and ornamental appeal has made it beloved by gardeners seeking plants that work as hard in the landscape as they do on the plate.
Full Sun
Moderate
3-11
120in H x ?in W
Perennial
High
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Deep purple pods and vibrant purple flowers transform this bean into living garden art while delivering a reliable snap bean harvest. It thrives in warm conditions and handles heat and drought with ease, making it particularly suited to challenging seasons. The plant grows abundantly on sturdy vines and adapts well to containers, raised beds, garden plots, and greenhouses, giving gardeners multiple ways to incorporate it into their growing space.
Purple Moon Hyacinth Bean pods are harvested young and tender for snap bean preparations, steamed whole or added to stir-fries and Asian vegetable dishes. The pods can also be left to mature on the vine, allowing the beans inside to dry for storage and later cooking. Gardeners also cultivate this variety specifically for its ornamental purple flowers and pods, integrating it into edible flower gardens and landscape designs where food and beauty merge.
Start seeds indoors in containers of seed-starting mix, sown 1/2 inch deep. Keep soil moist and maintain warmth at 65, 75°F until seedlings are ready to transplant. Grow under strong light until transplants are sturdy enough to harden off.
Transplant outdoors only after all frost danger has passed and soil has warmed thoroughly; Purple Moon Hyacinth Bean is frost-hardy but germinates and grows best in warmth. Space plants 4 inches apart with rows 48 inches apart. Provide sturdy support structures at planting time to support vigorous vining growth.
Direct sow seeds 1/2 inch deep into warm soil after the last frost date has passed and soil temperature reaches 65, 75°F. Space seeds 4 inches apart; thin as needed if germination is dense.
Harvest pods when they are young and tender, typically 90, 99 days from planting, though some sources indicate harvest can occur as early as 68 days. Pick pods when they snap cleanly between your fingers and before seeds inside begin to swell noticeably. Regular harvesting of tender pods encourages continued flowering and pod production. If you wish to save dried beans for storage and cooking, allow pods to mature fully on the vine until they turn brown and papery, then harvest and shell.
Because Purple Moon Hyacinth Bean grows as a vigorous vining annual, pruning is minimal. Guide and train the main stems onto trellising as they emerge, and remove any dead or damaged growth. Light pruning of crowded interior foliage can improve air circulation and reduce disease pressure, but the plant's natural habit is to sprawl generously across available support.
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“Purple Moon Hyacinth Bean carries the genetics of lablab purpureus, a species with deep roots in Asian agriculture and ornamental gardening traditions. This open-pollinated, heirloom cultivar represents a lineage preserved by gardeners who recognized both its culinary and aesthetic potential, allowing seed savers and home gardeners to maintain this variety generation after generation without reliance on commercial seed production.”