The Crimson Flowered Fava is an old (1778) and now extremely rare variety. It was apparently rescued from extinction when Mrs. Cutbush from Kent gave her remaining (4!) seeds to the Henry Doubleday Research Association. The Association was able to grow them out. Now they are available from a few sources such as the SSE Yearbook and I've found a couple of Canadian seed companies that carry it. The 6-inch pods grow on three-foot tall stalks. The red flowers make the plant beautiful enough to grow in an ornamental border. The plant is not only ornamental, the beans are supposed to be delicious too.
I got my seeds through the SSE Yearbook from Copia a few years ago. When it came time to plant them I decided not to do so because I might move before I could reap the harvest. Then I gave most of the seeds away and kept just a few for myself. Now that I've got a new garden spot I've finally sown the few seeds that I had saved for myself. Sixteen seeds went into the ground a couple of weeks ago and I'm happy to see that all but one have germinated and look to be healthy. Can't wait to see the flowers and taste the beans.
hello,
ReplyDeletei just did a search for crimson favas on google. i miss the crimson favas that were my first introduction to the plant. i must admit that i never owned any crimson favas. my only experience of them was being around them all the time when i was giving tours with my fiance, who was the garden educator at Copia. so i find it really funny that my first search result was copia related. i am now going to try and find some, because they are beautiful.
they had hundreds and hundreds of them growing all over. it was amazing.
I've been searching for Crimson Flowered Fava bean seeds - or "Broad Beans" in the UK. Do you know of someone who is selling these seeds? Please help if you can. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI just did a quick web search and saw that Thompson & Morgan seems to be offering them. https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/broad-bean-crimson-flowered/4772TM
DeleteAnd there is one member of the Seed Savers Exchange offering seeds in the 2019 yearbook but you have to be a member to request seeds.
Hope this helps.