Yes. Fast growing runner beans are some of the quickest climbers you can put in the ground. Plant the seeds after your last frost and the vines take off once the soil warms. In late spring I had nothing but bare bamboo poles by the back fence. A few weeks later those same poles were a leafy green tower taller than I am, packed with twining stems and the first red flowers. The fill-in happened so fast I never caught it mid-climb.
The scarlet runner bean growth rate is one of the fastest among common garden climbers. These are vigorous twining vines that wrap their stems around any vertical support they can reach. In a single warm season they climb 8 to 15 feet (2.4 to 4.6 m) with steady water and sun. The vine does not branch sideways much. It heads straight up, looking for the next thing to grab onto.
Your climate sets the ceiling. In cooler, short-summer regions the vines run nearer 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m). Frost cuts the season short before they hit their full height, as Wisconsin Horticulture and UC ANR both note. Long, hot summers push them toward the upper end of the range. Either way, you get a tall plant from a single seed in a matter of weeks, not months. The seeds themselves are large and easy to handle, which makes spacing them out along a fence simple work.
What drives all that speed is the way the plant grows. Runner beans are perennial in their warm native range, so they pour energy into the vine fast to reach light. In a cool garden they act like an annual and race through one big season instead. Warm soil is the trigger. Sow too early into cold ground and the seeds just sit there and sulk, so wait until nights stay mild. Once the heat arrives, the climb is hard to keep up with.
The timeline is easy to follow once you sow. Seeds sprout in 7 to 14 days in warm soil, sending up a thick stem with two broad seed leaves. From there the vine climbs hard through early summer, often adding several inches a day at peak. Flowers show up about two months after sowing, and the pods follow soon after the bees do their work.
Week 1-2
Seeds sprout in 7 to 14 days once the soil is warm, pushing up a thick stem.
Week 3-8
Vines climb fast through early summer and grab any support within reach.
Around week 8
First red flowers open about two months after sowing, with pods soon after.
All that speed comes with one catch. The vines outpace any support you add late, so get your full-height support in place before you sow, not after. I tried to slip a taller stake in once the plants were knee-high and ended up snapping stems and tangling the new growth. The vines had already locked onto the short pole and did not want to let go. Set your poles, netting, or trellis at the final height from day one. The vine finds it and starts the climb on its own, no training needed.
Pick a support that can take the weight too. A mature, leafy vine catches the wind like a sail, so a flimsy stake will lean or topple by August. I use a tall teepee of stout bamboo poles tied tight at the top, or a panel of strong netting pinned to the fence. Bury the base deep enough to hold against a summer storm. The plant adds bulk fast, and a strong frame keeps the whole tower upright through the season.
Put that quick growth to work. A row of these beans makes a fast climbing vine screen that fills a bare trellis or fence by midsummer. Space the plants close along a sturdy line of netting and you get a living wall of broad leaves and red bloom in a single season. It hides a compost pile, softens a chain-link fence, or gives you a quick patch of privacy on a deck while slower perennials catch up. Few plants give you that much cover that fast from a packet of seed.
Read the full article: Scarlet Runner Bean Growing Guide
