Lynn Sylvester

Growing a purple Hyacinth vine is relatively easy, all it takes is a few seeds.

It loves the warm weather, also know it is a perennial in zones 10-11. In our area zone 8, it is a biannual.

Not an actual bean, but a member of the pea family. When spring nights are above 50 degrees, place the hyacinth bean seed in one inch deep soil, and 6 inches apart. Soak seeds for 6-8 hours before planting to speed germination. However, to speed up the process, you can start your seeds indoors (a few weeks before planting) but don’t let plants get to large before planting outside.

Choose a sunny spot for you Purple Hyacinth. While generally low maintenance, they require a moist, well-draining soil in a sunny location. The vine is more susceptible to fungal diseases when grown in partial sun, and roots will rot in overly wet soil. Plants grown in full sun have more blooms and more vigorous vines. Otherwise the plants are relatively pest and disease free.

Give the vines something to climb on, I put mine under the rod iron fence surrounding my pool. This vine can spread as high as 16 feet, mine however in 5 month grew 8 foot tall and 8 foot wide, and that was just one plant. So imagine the coverage if you plant more than one how thick the vines will become.

The vigorous vines grow quickly, but flowers often wait until mid-spring to make an appearance. Flower clusters resemble pea blossoms and are followed by distinctive leathery-looking purple pods.

Although Purple Hyacinth beans are consumed in several parts of the world, preparation is tricky (due to toxic levels of cyanogenic glucoside). So, my advice is to leave the eating to experts, and save the seeds at the end of the season to plant next year and share with friends.

You will know the seeds are ready to harvest when the pod changes from bright purple to a silvery purple and the beans are plump and firm. Set these beans aside to dry out, then before the last freeze of the season, pick out the best, most plump seeds to propagate. Decide to either plant directly or start indoors, plant and set back and enjoy.

Store your seeds for the winter in a paper bag or envelope until they are completely dry. Then you take them out of the pods and store them in a lidded jar.

Believe it or not, even after the leaves and flowers are gone, it is still hard to see through the fence, so you still have privacy into the winter months, as the vines are so thick.

For more information you can learn more here: https://growinginthegarden.com/how-to-save-seeds/