Hi sazzyrose

I grew them last year for the first time. The plants are quite bushy and have a very nice, but small crimson pea type flower. They were quite good producers. Unfortunately, my family and myself did not give the vegetable itself a rave review. So, I will not be growing them again. I love asparagus and fresh peas but I failed to find the resemblance to either of these in the asparagus pea. A bit on the bitter side and I even tried them in a stir fry with no luck. They also need to be harvested at no longer than 2", which I did. Any longer and they are inedible due to hollowness and woodiness. But, others may like them very much.

I have one major philosophy in gardening. You may not like it, but I may. I may not like it, but you may. Each to their own and until it's tried, it's unknown. Give it a shot and see what you think. I think we had a bit of a thread going on it last year on the vegetable forum, if that thread is still around.

I started mine by direct sowing about May 24th. They grew with no problem; 23 of 24 germinating which was plenty. Also, they are very attractive to the caterpillars of painted lady butterflies. I purposely left a couple of thistles around them to attract the caterpillars because they were devouring the asparagus peas.

Shauna

Shauna, how would you rate this just as an ornamental?

Becky

I guess, viewed as an ornamental, they are quite pretty but not prolific flowering. What I thought of when I saw the flowers was slightly larger, single scarlet runner bean florets but on a bushy non-climbing plant. Here's a picture of them in bloom and the colour is pretty true to this picture.

Shauna