Joan and the Beanstalk

Unlike Jack’s beanstalk, my vigorous hyacinth bean vines and scarlet runner vines didn’t come from magic beans. However, the hyacinth bean vine seeds are
a work of art with white stripes around the edges; I’m continually in awe of the beauty God created. They’re also special because they came from my friend R’s garden.

I’m growing these “bean stalks” primarily for their colorful flowers—purple for the hyacinth bean along with their purple decorative (NOT edible as far as I know) seed pods, and red for the scarlet runner. Scarlet runner beans CAN be eaten. The hyacinth bean vine has purple stems with purple veins in the leaves. Both “bean stalks” have flower buds opening soon. I can’t wait. I’ll post pictures when they do!

Incidentally, there are lots of “Jack stories”; it appears Jack had many adventures. A few years ago, I saw a documentary about a man in the North Carolina Mountains who has maintained them throughout the generations—retelling them at storytelling festivals. I found it fascinating as well, that speech scholars had analyzed his speech and found that not only has he kept the “Jack stories” alive, the words of his everyday speech are Chaucerian English!