I've had great luck with scarlet runner beans. My hyacinth vine didn't get nearly as big (although the flowers are prettier). Neither was much bothered by JB, but that could have been because they were busy eating all of my roses.

Thanks Kathy, I'm thinking that maybe I'll plant one pot with Hyacinth beans & the other with scarlet runner beans to compare results. Good to hear that the J. beetles didn't bother your vines. They do like my roses but I think they like my plum trees even better. Thanks for the info, Larry

Two years ago the JBs did a lot of damage to my SRBs, but last year, I planted the SRBs close to the building and had pots of Basil about 15' away near the parking lot. In between I had toms and peppers. When the JBs arrived, they found the Basil and decided to congregate there. There were tons of 'em. Occasionally I would knock a bunch into soapy water and dispose of them, but more would come to the Basil. Since I had more Basil pots elsewhere, I let them have at it. They never made it back to my SRBs. The Basil turned out to be a pretty good trap crop. I don't know if it was a preferred plant, or if they were too lazy to look beyond it.

For several years I've been growing a variety of Nastutium that Pinetree Seeds calls "Tall Climbing Single Mix". Some years they are eight feet high, some years (like last year) they go up one side of the arbor, down the other and then back up again. Probably about 14-16 feet or more. I have to train them on the arbor as they have no tendrils but I like the look. I may even have a pic somewhere.

tj

Here's the pic. These are grown in the ground so results in a container may vary. All the plants (about 6 or 8) in the pic were planted on the left side of the arbor so the leaves you see on the right grew over the top and down (and one or two went back up again).

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An added bonus is the plants kept the hummer feeder shaded and the hummers like the flowers as well.

tj

Nice photo tj, thanks, Larry