Name:    Lablab purpureus aka purple hyacinth vine

Type of Plant:  An ornamental and edible annual vine, native to India and sub-Saharan Africa. It has long been grown in the tropics for food.

Why I Love this Plant:  Fast growing, pretty flowers, and beautiful purple beans. What else could you want? You can find varieties with white flowers as well as the purple, and this plant is also grown for cut flowers.

A Word to the Wise: This vine tolerates heat well, but it does want sun. When I grow it in my box on the deck that only gets three or four hours of direct sun, the vine shoots up the trellis and onto the balcony outside of my bedroom, and only flowers up top where it’s in sun for five or more hours.  

Pretty flowers, lovely purple beans, and fast growth! Lablab purpureus vine is a winner.

My vine burst into bloom when it grew high enough to have more sun.

The hyacinth bean vine is growing in this box at the base of a rustic trellis I made – it climbed up the sides of the trellis and made a beeline for railing on my balcony.