| G'Day! - Tomato cages are fine - for eggplants, peppers, and other "mid-height" plants, and can be used to stabilized the base of tall rigid plants with weak bases (such as hollyhocks.) But tomatoes just overwhelm the cages. - Beans have pretty flowers, even regular pole beans. So, you could grow them as a psuedo-ornimental, which may expand you range of growing site options. - i make bean trellises out of kennel mesh wire fencing; any kind of wire fencing will do; actually, bean vines are light enough that nylon netting, like fishnetting, would work just fine. The key is to be able to access BOTH side of the trellis. - Most pole beans will grow 10' if you let 'em; make the trellis as tall as you can comphortably reach, or, if you enjoy the aesthetics of it, go taller! Beans are also great for pergolas and other over-head trelising; they don't make a mess below, as grape vines do, and don't require the industrial strength support system than heavy wisteria vines need. - i cut the mesh into 2' wide panels and nailed one end to the eves of my toolshed, so th4e panels hung down at right angles to the wall (easy to access both sides) at 1-foot intervals (just because that's how far apart the roof beams were.) The vines swarmed up and also reached from one panel to the next; the wall was smothered with pretty bean vines. - i also set up 5' tall walls of mesh running down the center of each bed in my veggie garden, running norht to south so they cast no noon shade on the shorter crops. i stabilized the trelises with cheapie arbor arches (from the "Everything is $14--" catalog.") Or i stabilized the arches with the trelising fencing; it's a mutal support thing! These arches actually LOOK fine, they're just not quite as sturdy without a bit of support, and look GREAT, not obviously cheapies, when they've got vines on 'em.) - my all-time favorite pole bean is the Purple Podded Pole Bean from the Vermont Bean Seed Company. They have very pretty flowers which attract butterflies. The pods turn purple when they are ready to be picked, so you KNOW which are ready and they are easy to find, even amidst the wildest tangle of vines. And, unlike soem purple beans, ONLY the pods, not the vines themselves, turn colour, so when "bean hunting" you don't have to distingush slender bean from fat vine, a great boon to those of us with poor eyesight. Here in Maryland, they are also self-seeding! - i always leave some beans to fatten and save the seeds for hte next years crop; if you want some, please do not hesitate to ask; i enjoy sharing seeds and plants. (If you ask me for bean seeds, you might as well as for a few strawberry plants too; they need thinning, and it is as easy to pack up a big box o' plants as a small one!) - i'd like to hear about other folk's creative adventures in bean (or other) trellising! - Happy gardening!
-vlad | 
