Winged bean/Asparagus bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)

Lablab Bean/Hyacinth Bean Lablab purpureus (syn. Dolichos lablab)

It’s a bean you will find on farms, in old gardens – a humble plant that is incredibly hardy and immensely productive. In warm climates the plants live for many years, producing edible pods, flowers and leaves all year round. Like the choko, many Queenslanders remember these plants growing in the gardens of their youth. Its time they made a resurgence.

Lablab Beans are very high yielding plants. When in full production, you need to pick beans virtually daily. The beans are best lightly cooked in stews or Asian dishes. Pick the pods while young, before the seeds have swollen fully. Use scissors to cut the bean from the flower stem so as not to damage it. Lablab Beans will continue to flower from these old flower stems so extra care results in more beans.

Poor Man’s Bean, Tongan Bean – This is an old plant that has been grown in Queensland since early last century. The flowers are deep pink and the beans are a bright, pale, luminous green, resembling snow peas in shape while young. There is some variability in plants from different sources with some having purplish edged pods.

Pean – Another form, widely grown in Queensland in the past, is known locally as the ‘Pean’. Supposedly this is due to the fact that the immature pods resemble a cross between a pea and a bean. This form has white flowers and pale green, broad beans. The seeds are brown.

There is nothing more spectacular than garnishing salads, savory or sweet dishes with delicious edible flowers. Most of us are aware that there is a large range of plants with edible flowers, but the various books and magazines seem to list the same flowers.

Coming from cooler climes, these plants often require a little more love or attention in our gardens.

The good news is that there are many hardy plants with edible flowers that thrive in warmer climates. That’s to be expected, as we live in the climate zone with the world’s greatest biodiversity. You probably already have some in your own garden.