Mrs Growster's sister lives in Richmond Va, and she was a keen gardener up to a few years ago, when it got a bit much, but one veg she couldn't get going was ordinary runner beans! She tried all manner of ways, getting seed from over here, sowing at different times, but they just didn't materialise!
How do you get on, a bit further South?
Hi Growster!
Yes we are about 660 km southwest of Mrs. Growster's sister!
You may find this a bit odd, but you are more likely to find runner beans growing in USA gardens as an ornamental, rather than as a food crop. That statement is mostly about climate, rather than a comment on runner beans as a food. Runner beans simply do better in cool, foggy, cloudy and wet growing conditions. Nova Scotia, Maine, or the Pacific northwest would probably be great for them, and I suspect they are grown in those places. They might also do OK in the highest elevation mountain towns in our eastern Appalachian Mountains in the South (though I don't know that for certain).
Here in Athens, GA, summers are too hot and intermittently too dry for them. I have a neighbor that grows scarlet runner beans for the red flowers; I see and occasional pod, but they don't set many of those, I suspect not enough to eat.
In Georgia, we do grow beans, most of which are "snap beans". I think you call these French beans? We divide ours by growth habit (bush, half-runner, or pole beans), or color (green beans, wax beans (yellow), purple beans). My favorite green beans are Roma (a broad-podded variety), Kentucky Wonder, and Blue Lake, all pole beans (you might grow these on pole tripods). If I could grow only one of them, it would be Roma, but the other two are very good as well. There is also a bush Roma.
Golden wax and Cherokee wax are my favorite wax beans. Both are "bush" types, though Cherokee will also climb a bit (half runner). They have a milder flavor than green beans. I don't really have much experience with the purple ones.
People also grow Lima beans or butter beans in the south.
(Niece worked as a physician just down the road from you, In Atlanta - specialising in HIV - I don't think she grew beans either...)!
Society can always do with more good people like your niece, working to keep people healthy!
When I am not working at home, I also work in Atlanta. I am a geologist, working in a regulatory capacity to assure that contaminated sites are properly cleaned up by the owners.