Black Knight Runner Bean is a stunning heirloom pole bean that marries ornament with culinary purpose. Bright scarlet flowers climb your trellis all summer, then mature into long, tender pods perfect for fresh eating. Harvest young for superior snap beans, or let them fully mature to reveal deep obsidian-colored dried beans with exceptional flavor and texture. In 65 to 80 days, you'll have pods stretching 6 to 8 inches long, ready for both the dinner table and the seed-saving jar. Hardy in zones 3 through 9, it thrives in full sun and moderate watering.
Full Sun
Moderate
3-9
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Moderate
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The scarlet blooms alone make Black Knight Runner Bean worth growing, but the real payoff comes at harvest: tender green pods that eat like butter as snap beans, or glossy black mature beans with fantastic depth of flavor. You get a genuinely ornamental plant that also feeds you well, blooming prolifically all season long in full sun. The dried beans are a deep obsidian color that looks striking in a storage jar and cooks down to something truly special on the plate.
Harvest the young, tender pods as fresh snap beans for steaming, sautéing, or adding to summer salads while they're at their peak. Let pods mature fully on the vine to dry the beans, then shell and store them for winter cooking. The dried obsidian beans work beautifully in soups, braises, and any dish where you want a bean with genuine flavor and silky texture.
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Direct sow seeds 1 inch deep outdoors after the last frost date, when soil temperature is at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Seeds sprout in 5 to 8 days under ideal conditions.
For snap beans, pick pods when they're young and tender, before the beans inside swell too much; this stage gives you superior texture and flavor. If you're letting beans mature for drying, leave pods on the vine until they've fully swelled and begun to dry naturally. Pick mature pods just before the first frost, or once they've turned papery and the beans inside rattle when you shake them. Shell dried beans and store for winter cooking.
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