Can I cross runner beans with other species?

[Cotyledon]

This type of breeding project is a numbers game because of the decreased fertility of F1 plants.

Genetic studies show that introgression, or the transfer of one set of alleles from one species into another through hybridization and backcrossing has taken place in the wild before, involving these species. It is possible.

There are 20,000+ common bean types out there in the world as well and not all of them have been studied using bioinformatics and I suspect there are still some surprises out there in the populations. I have Scarlet Runner beans and common beans growing together this year, as well as Thicket Bean and Lima beans and even Tepary beans. This is the first year I have grown beans myself. I am not sure what will work here and mostly am just trying several things, but if some hybridization opportunities present themselves I may put some time and energy into that as well.

I'm mostly looking for things that do well in out Utah summer heat and have a bit of drought tolerance, but since we have so many hummingbirds here I wanted my runner beans to bring all the birds to the yard... as it were.

[UnicornEmily]

Ooh, I'd love to have more hummingbirds in my yard!  I've seen two this year, both poking around at my flowering brussels sprouts, which excited me.  I've never seen them in my yard before.  Clearly I need to let brassicas flower more often.  Hummingbirds are so neat.

You know, you raise an excellent point.  I keep forgetting that specific varieties of the same species can sometimes be more compatible with another species than other varieties.  So even if it doesn't usually work, it's worth continuing to try with different varieties, to find out if something will.

[Cathy A]

Emily, if you want to attract hummingbirds, plant a bed of zinnias. Zinnia flowers are very appealing to hummingbirds, and will also attract many varieties of butterfly.

[UnicornEmily]

That's good to know!  I'd like to stick with edibles only in my garden (I know zinnias are edible, but they're said to not taste very good).  Do you know of any tasty ornamental edibles that attract hummingbirds?  If so, I'd love to plant those!

[Jeremy Weiss]

That's good to know!  I'd like to stick with edibles only in my garden (I know zinnias are edible, but they're said to not taste very good).  Do you know of any tasty ornamental edibles that attract hummingbirds?  If so, I'd love to plant those!

Well, I think hibiscus attracts them (I know they are what pollinates them in nature). And you can certainly "eat" (or, at least, make tea and drinks from) hibiscus flowers (though I don't know if that is all hibiscuses or just roselle.)

They like Cleome so maybe try caper vines? I say look among the bromeliads as well, but I'm not sure there are many for temperate climes (well, edible ones at least).

Basically the rule of thumb is that a lot of hummingbird attractive plants tend to have flowers that are tubular and brightly colored.

Fuchsia comes to mind as well, but again, while you CAN eat the berries, they're not supposed to taste all that good. 

[galina gardiner]

Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.  If Black Mitla's a common bean, that explains why it crossed so easily with Gaucho for her.

Thank you for the picture, Joseph!  That makes it easy to know what to look for when identifying the bean's species.

Indeed the drawing is an eye opener.  And it does explain why Mitla Black grows without issues, whereas teparies would not be expected to. 

[stone]

Sadly, chickpeas or garbanzo beans are the only domesticated bean from genus Cicer. I find it sad because I love making hummus or falafel from chickpeas, but they aren't very productive per plant, so I can't justify the space in the garden.

I just googled chickpea cold tolerance...
10 degrees f!

I think I need to plant some today.

I've overwintered broad beans (fava), and that worked out... Kind of neat having beans very early in the season...

Too cold here for over wintering snow peas most years... but those chick peas... looks like a plan!

 my tepary bean plants last summer below...

[Jeremy Weiss]

Just check depending on the type of chickpea before committing. Based on my own growing experience, the extra hardy ones often are on the desi side of the family (the smaller, harder browner ones grown in India for dal and chickpea flour.) And those often have very thick skins.   

[stone]

Ooh, I'd love to have more hummingbirds in my yard!

I see plenty visiting my bean tipis...
As the cypress vine loves to climb the tipis too... happy hummingbirds!

It's always fun seeing the hummingbirds visit the flat flowers, like the zinnias mentioned above...or last summer the lantanas were getting plenty of action...

Bummer that you are limiting yourself to food crops... attracting the pollinators by planting bloomers always seemed to help the food plants... everybody wins!

Do you know of any tasty ornamental edibles that attract hummingbirds? 

How about canna? The tubers can be eaten like taters... although they do require extra cooking...

[Cathy A]

You can benefit your food crops by putting in some non-edible plants that attract pollinators and beneficial insects.

The more diverse your mixture of plants, the more likely you are to have a healthy, productive, low maintenance garden.