[Zeedman]

It may be that the seed sent to you was misidentified (which is not out of the question for BC) or it be that the variety is just responding differently to your conditions. I have not grown Meraviglia Di Venezia personally; but as an SSE member, I can look back to descriptions given by those who offered the variety since 2000. It has been described as a strong climber... but then, it is also usually described as being partially or completely black seeded, so there may be several different strains in circulation.


I grow a different heirloom wax bean (Uzice Speckled Wax) that performs for me much as described in the OP. It grows as "semi-pole" in my garden, with weak vines, with the majority of the beans produced at 24" or below. It has performed the same way each time I grow it, while other pole beans (grown in the same garden / same year) have densely covered their 6' trellis.


Despite the variety's reluctance to climb, it is highly productive, and I have shared it widely. The funny thing is, some of the people I have sent seed reported back to say it was a strong climber! Really odd that two different pole wax beans would perform this way... perhaps they share some common ancestry.