Royalty

 These lovely Royalty dwarf beans are just so beautiful that I decided to plant them outside the front of the house in a raised bed right on the pavement. It is funny watching people walk past the house and try to work out what sort of flowers I was growing!

 I first obtained these seeds at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall many years ago. During a visit to the gardens I spotted some dry plants discarded on the compost heap... so they were 'liberated' to a new home.  Royalty are an old English variety said to be favourited by Queen Victoria herself.

 Beautiful purple flowers and plant stalks, followed by these dark purple beans.

 Really very prolific and quite tender.

I had the first picking yesterday, completely stringless and lose their colour back to green when cooked. Completely delicious!