Elisabeth x Llanover pea

[jayb]

I made the initial cross in 2012, I was hoping for a pink flowered shelling pea with good sweet taste and preferable wrinkly peas!
I grew just 2 F1 plants in 2013, which I planted out in the poly-tunnel. Plants were healthy and tall growing, the flowers were two tone purple/magenta.

Elisabeth x Llanover Pea F1 by jayb 35, on Flickr

Elisabeth x Llanover Pea F1 by jayb 35, on Flickr

Elisabeth x Llanover Pea F1 by jayb 35, on Flickr

Elisabeth x Llanover Pea F1 by jayb 35, on Flickr

Elisabeth x Llanover Pea F1 by jayb 35, on Flickr

[jayb]

When dried and shelled it became apparent the two plants had produced slightly different pod types. One looked less fibrous and was softer to the touch and was very slightly 'pinker' in colour (left).

Elisabeth x Llanover F2 by jayb 35, on Flickr

The pea seeds were more varied than I had expected from an F1, both plants were mixed together.

Elisabeth x Llanover F2 seed by jayb 35, on Flickr

[jayb]

I won't post any pictures of the F2 plants growing this year as I'm not 100% certain which pictures they are!!!!

Plants either flowered white, by far the majority or salmon pink, just a few. I may not have grown a big enough selection to have found a sweet pink flowering podding pea. I'll be able to make some selections from pod and seed type over the winter and I can always sow some more F2's if needed.

[Galina]

Strange - Elisabeth started off as a genetic bottle neck, just a couple of pods from just the one plant, never been crossed here ( before this year) .and always uniform here. I had a little variation which I checked,- and came to the conclusion that these were cultural, because when grown separately, they all did exactly the same thing).. If Llanover is true breeding and Elisabeth is true breeding, then there should just not be different pods in the F1. The pods on the left (which look mangetout to me) don't make sense in an F1 generation? But as all the flowers were purple, there must have been a cross, otherwise the F1 flowers on the plant with the mangetout pods would have been pink. It definitely wasn't an ElisabethxLlanover cross that just hadn't worked.

This is another example where F1 uniformity (or not!) has us stumped. I think we now have a working explanation for the CEGxShiraz F1 differences. I wonder what the explanation here might be? F1 green fibrous pod and purple flowers should be uniform, because these are all the dominant features. The mangetout looking pod should be a recessive feature and therefore not feature in the F1 generation?

As you say, the F2 selection is the only thing that matters. Hope you will get your desired sweet, pink flowering shelling pea.

[jayb]

It is interesting and a bit baffling. As you say, definitely a cross or they would have been pink flowered. There were no purple flowers in the F2 plants I grew, just white or pink, so it looks to be correct and from a white flowered parent = Llanover. I don't have any Llanover pods to compare but when I've grown it, it seemed typical of a green podding pea. Another reasoning is I contaminated with a white flowered mangetout whilst pollinating. I grew Opal Creek that year, I can't think of another, but all pods were regular green types on the F2's.

Lol, love pink flowered peas! and would love a pink podding one but will keep an eye open for interesting tasty ones should they happen along.