Hyacinth Bean Seeds – Organic Heirloom Lablab Shim Seeds

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🚚 Ships from Melbourne, VIC — domestic & international shipping available.

Backyard Garden Seeds · Asian Climbing Vegetables

Hyacinth Bean Shim

শিম

A climber worth building a trellis for

8 Seeds · Non-GMO

SeedRootsClimbLeavesFlowerPods

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Ships Australia-wide & internationally

 Digital Growing GuideDownload the full PDF ▶ Growing Guide VideoWatch it step by step

Growth check

Small seed, huge climber



Vigorous ◀ Reaches 3–6m+
Twining climber
Needs sturdy support
Fast once warm

This is a genuinely vigorous vine, not a polite little climber. A loaded plant can cover 3–6 metres of fence, trellis or arbor in a single warm season, twining tightly around anything it touches. Give it something sturdy to climb before you plant — a flimsy support won't hold once it's covered in foliage and pods.

Ornamental & edible — grown for its lavender flowers, glossy purple pods, and as a traditional shim vegetable

Australia-wide

When to sow, wherever you are

Cool & Mountain

Tasmania · VIC highlands · Canberra

Sow Oct – Dec, once soil is reliably warm

Give it full sun and a sturdy trellis from day one

Young pods Feb – Apr; grow as an annual here

Temperate

Melbourne · Sydney · Adelaide · Perth

Sow Oct – Dec, after all frost danger has passed

Flowers from mid-summer onward

Young pods Jan – Apr

Subtropical

Brisbane · Northern NSW

Sow Sep – Dec

Long, warm season suits this vine well

Harvest Dec – May

Tropical

Darwin · Cairns · the Top End

Sow Mar – Jun, through the dry season

Can behave as a short-lived perennial here

Harvest Jun – Nov

Arid & Semi-arid

Alice Springs · inland WA/SA/NSW

Sow Sep – Nov, once nights stay warm

Drought tolerant once established — a real strength here

Harvest Dec – Apr

Growing in a pot?

Any zone · any balcony

Large pot (40cm+) with a tall, secured frame

☀️Warmest, sunniest spot you have

Let it climb a balcony rail or wall trellis

A general guide only — hyacinth bean is frost-tender everywhere in Australia, so your local frost dates should always have the final say over the exact sowing date.

Seed to harvest

What happens next

Before sowing

Soak seeds 12–24 hours in water first. This softens the hard seed coat and speeds germination considerably — unsoaked seed can take weeks longer.

Germination · 7–14 days

Sow about 2.5cm deep directly where it will grow, once the soil is warm. Keep evenly moist until seedlings appear.

Support it early

Install a sturdy trellis, fence line or arbor before the vine needs it. This is a twining climber that will happily wrap around anything nearby — give it the right thing to grab onto.

Growing on

Full sun, once-established drought tolerance, and few serious pest problems. As a legume it fixes its own nitrogen, so go easy on high-nitrogen fertiliser or you'll get lots of leaf and fewer flowers.

Flowering

Fragrant lavender-to-purple pea flowers appear in clusters and attract bees readily.

Harvest · 70–120 days

Pick pods young and tender for eating, usually from around 70 days. Left longer, pods and vines make a striking ornamental display, and mature dry pods can be saved for next season's seed.

Important: young pods must always be cooked before eating. Mature beans are more strongly flavoured and require thorough cooking (boiling, with a change of water) to be safe — never eat this plant raw.

The details

What's in the pack

Seeds per pack8

Seed typeNon-GMO

Grown inMelbourne, VIC

Germination rate95%

Days to harvest70–120 days

Price$5.70 AUD

ShippingAU & international

Give it something to climb

Limited seed each year — once it's picked, it's picked.

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Enjoy Gardening