![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/IMG_1518.jpg\" "\\"Dragon's")
<\/a>For all the beans, who from their labors rest<\/p><\/div>\n
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My association with Dragon’s Tongue wax bush beans goes back nine months to last Christmas when our middle son and his wife gave me several colorful packets of heirloom seeds from a company that collects and sells unique varieties.\u00a0 My first reaction at seeing wax bean seeds, except for liking the artwork on the packet<\/a>, was a little negative.\u00a0 I have a childhood memory of yellow beans in a grandmother-made three-bean salad, mealy, vinegary and over-onioned.\u00a0 That memory plus the name (wax?\u00a0 like gnawing on a candle?) steered me clear of this type of bean my entire adult life until now.<\/p>\n Dragon's Tongue wax beans with their green brethren<\/p><\/div>\n I planted these in mid-May in the Lorelei<\/a> next to my wall of cucumbers.\u00a0 I felt chagrined at my childish aversion to wax beans as soon as I picked and crunched the first one a month and a half later.\u00a0 (I love snacking on raw beans in the garden, so sweet, so crisp, a real treat!).\u00a0 These purple-streaked chiffon-yellow beauties were tender, string-less, and delicious.\u00a0 Steamed for a few minutes or cooked longer with a little bacon, Dragon’s Tongue makes a delectable dish.\u00a0 The beans amazed me that they could grow so large, a half inch wide and six to seven inches long, looking to my eye overgrown, yet still be tender and good.\u00a0 I wonder, writing this now, if that’s how they were supposed to be, long and flat like a tongue, and why this variety has its unique name.\u00a0 Another thing about these beans: the foot high bushes produced two separate harvests with smaller pickings before and after, almost making three harvests from one planting.\u00a0 Even as I pulled the finished plants, I could see a few brave purple blossoms ready for more.\u00a0 So prolific, these beans, they were a true joy to grow.<\/p>\n Poor bare bush beans. Won't someone put them out of their misery?<\/p><\/div>\n The time had come, nevertheless, to pull the now bare plants, mostly stems and branches, an echo of their former glory.\u00a0 While clearing them out, I discovered several pods, maybe seven or eight I missed in the last pickings.\u00a0 I left the bushes bearing those, hoping they would mature into Dragon’s Tongue seed to plant next year.\u00a0 After a heavy spate of rain a bit ago, it’s been pretty dry around here for the last couple of weeks, so I’m not sure if the bean seeds will reach maturity.\u00a0 We’ll see.<\/p>\n I said thank you to these now-empty bushes, such hearty producers of lovely and tasty beans.\u00a0 What an odd mixture of satisfaction and melancholy, clearing a garden at the end of the growing season.\u00a0 I suppose that’s how it always is when you get involved with other living things.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I started cleaning up the garden for winter, pulling spent Dragon’s Tongue bush beans, weeds, and clearing dead leaves and other debris.\u00a0 End-of-season plants are not so pretty plus they can harbor disease and pests.\u00a0 Besides, I like the look … Continue reading <\/a><\/a>