I'm sure they can but I've never done it myself... Look up three sisters garden...

It usually turns into a mess ... the gourds cover the corn and the ground around it and you can't harvest the ears without damaging the vines.

The original "three sisters" was done with ANCIENT native varieties planted far apart. The corn was allowed to ripen and dry on the plant, the beans were also picked dry, and the squash was not a large vigorous modern type.

Thanks. I'm going to plant them on their own.

I have a three sisters garden and it is doing fantastic; however, most people do not plant them correctly. I live in Cherokee Territory here in Oklahoma and many people employ the three sisters method. The problem is that most people use sweet corn and the method uses field corn because it has a much longer growing period and drying time before harvest. If you plant sweet corn, the trellis the stalks provide for your pole beans would die and not stick around long enough for bean production. Also, the stalks would be need to be cleaned out sooner which would be more difficult among the gourds. It is a great method for saving space in limited garden areas, but I think it probably isn't for most people since not many plant only field corn over sweet!