Vicia faba 'Crimson Flowered'

Broad beans (Vicia faba) are really easy to grow, bearing an early crop of delicious, tender beans, even suitable for use in the first of the summer salads.

Very simple descriptive names such as 'Crimson-flowered' (othr examples include 'Early long purple', 'Tall white', etc) are often an indication of a variety's age, because it wasn't really until the Victorian era that romantic names like "Lazy Housewife" and "Egyptian Turnip-Rooted" became de rigeur. Red-flowered broad beans were described in seed lists as early as 1788, and what we have today is either the same one or a close variant of it.

The variety seems to have come close to extinction, until Mrs Cutbush, an elderly lady from Kent (UK), donated a tin with beans to the Heritage Seed Library in 1978. It had been grown by her market-gardener father, who was given the seeds during his childhood years a century earlier.

The 'proper' colour for the flowers is a deep wine red with darker burgundy underneath, which fade slightly with age to a deep carmine.

Vicia faba 'Crimson Flowered' is therefore a heritage broad bean variety, bearing stunning crimson flowers that develop into short, upright pods of tender beans, holding about 3 or 4 beans inside. As it's prettier than most broad bean varieties, Vicia faba 'Crimson Flowered' is the ideal choice for growing in small gardens and ornamental borders. Grow Vicia faba 'Crimson Flowered' in moist but well-drained soil in full sun. The green leaves reach about 1 metres high and deep pink-red flowers are produced in clusters off the stem. The flowers will radiate a beautiful scent. The bean pods are ready for picking in summer.

There is another rather old broad bean with red flowers, Red Epicure, but that is quite a different variety, larger and with chestnut-brown seeds.