It depends on the variety of bean you grow, but in any case you wouldn't want the height of the support to be more than you could comfortably reach to pick the beans. I put up fencing and posts each year for my pole beans and I usually put the top bar at about 5 1/2 feet. Beans will come back down the other side after they've reached the maximum height the support will allow, anyway. And if you don't need a lot of beans that should work well.

My mom and I are planning to consolidate our resources into one, larger garden. This means we have many arches to use...and plan to set them up in an allee style...so you can walk under them on a couple of side paths, branching off the main path through the garden. We plan to plant the climbing beans on these, along with flowering vines, closer to the seating area. Maybe this would work for you?

That sounds really pretty; I wish I had some arches to use! The attractive ones in catalogues are way too expensive for the number we'd need to supply us with beans all winter!

mandolis, I like that path leading into your garden,

Mandolis, I've never seen cattle panels used more attractively! What a great garden!

Thanks! You can't see it in in the pic. I have 6 cattle panel arches on the borders of my kitchen garden, one at each end as "entrances", and two on each side. I mostly use them for beans and cucumbers, though I have seen people trellice tomatoes to them. My garden isn't fenced, so the arches add structure and definition to the space.

Very pretty! That's a great idea, especially for the entrances :)

Mandolis--your garden is so beautiful! I am going to have to look into cattle panels.

Inspired by this thread I just got a couple of folding bean fences from Gardeners Supply. I imagine I'll have to use metal stakes at either end of each one, and possibly in the middle, to secure them, but they will be easier to put up every year and they'll save me having to wrap twine around the top and bottom crosspieces the way I do when I make a structure from bamboo.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bean Fencing

I cant agree more with Cattle Panel and Arches, although I wish I could find a $20 source near me and currently looking for more. I bent one into a Gothic arch.

I love that the beans or whatever hang down away from the leaves for easy harvesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden

I'm switching out my bamboo this year (got a bunch from freecycle!), but rather than do the typical bean poles like a teepee, i'm going to do an upside down teepee.
I don't know how to describe it. The lower part of an X being the lower end and the upper the larger end. Thus, the beans draping down where you can actually pick them!
I'm not quite sure how we're going to make this stable! I'll leave this up to my hubby! LOL
If it works, and I somehow learn how to post pics, I will! Nancy

This has worked SOOOO well! I don't have to go inside the teepee and deal with spiders, don't have to climb ladders to get to the beans, can look out the slider that goes out to the garden and SEE if I have to pick that day.....and it's pretty!
I did have one bamboo pole come down (too close of a tie off), but an easy fix!
As usual, if I can figure out how to post pics, you'll be the first to see them! Nancy

How nice that that worked, nancyjane! I'd love to see a picture!

This is the entrance to my potager.