This revitalised heritage variety has wonderful deep crimson flowers followed by a good crop of very tasty beans. Very unusual and attractive, this will look at home in your borders as well as your vegetable patch.

The very pretty red flowers really stand out in winter and spring when it is flowering. It is eyecatching enough to look fine in a flower garden. It flowers for a long time before setting pods so you can enjoy the spectacle for ages.
The raw immature green seeds are delicious, they have an unusual fruity flavour that is different than other broad beans. You can of course also cook them as usual, but I don't really like them as a dried bean simply because the seeds are so small that they are a pain to skin. You shouldn't need to skin immature beans.
Unlike other types of beans, broad beans grow in winter and start setting pods when the weather warms up in spring.
They can be planted from late March to early June and you may like to plant according to your garden size. Earlier planted beans grow tall and need to be staked but produce a lot of pods, whereas late planted broad beans grow shorter and don't produce as many pods but are easier to handle, and are better in small gardens.
Broad beans also make excellent winter green manure, just plant and mow down when they are about knee height, allow them to grow again and mow. Then dig in the tops a month before spring planting to let them rot down.
If you also pull up the roots and dig them in they will add some nitrogen back into the soil as they die down.