I thought the group might be interested in my experience this year with Scarlet Runner Beans. I grew these for the first time this year, more intriqued by the flowers actually than by the beans. I treated them like pole beans.
During the hot summer months, the beans grew and flowered, but set no beans. Had I not been so lazy, I would have pulled them out for lack of productivity. But the flowers are so pretty!
Finally, about a month ago, definitely in the cool of fall, the plants began to bear beans! They are continuing to bear even now - we haven't had a frost yet, remarkably. The crop is never heavy, but continuous.
The beans themselves are flattish, like an Italian bean. The range of sizes is incredible - some are only a few inches long and some grow to a foot long. No matter how big we let them get, they still cook up tender and tasty. Actually, the taste is better than expected - some references said the beans were mediocre as green beans. I haven't let any of them mature as dry beans.
If anyone has experience with Scarlet Runner Beans, perhaps you can shed some light on this behavior, which I regard as unusual for beans.
Guy Bradley Chesterfield MO zone 6