Broad beans crossing -how far apart?

[Flummery]

Last night I was pottering in the back garden and noticed that the first of mine are flowering - and very dark red. So all seems well. They weren't planted 9 metres from the others (the distance in my book) but with the house and garden in between - they were in the front garden, so I guess about 25 or 30 m apart. They seem to be all the same - red stems too.

[coreopsis]

Oh, I got it from The Real Seed Catalogue's website - see below:

French Beans don't usually cross with each other, so you can save seed from several varieties without worry.
Runner Beans DO cross very easily, so only grow one type if you want to keep the seed.
Broad Beans also cross A LOT and are hard to keep for seed as you need to isolate them from others with 1/2 a mile or so.

Is it posssible to cross different varieties?e.g.french and runner?

[Alison]

Is it posssible to cross different varieties?e.g.french and runner?

No, they won't cross between different varieties.

[Flummery]

I think one of them is Phaseolus vulgaris and one Phaseolus coccineus. (But don't quote me on that!)