Unity

[jayb]

I'd almost given up on peas this year after planting so late and then the blackbirds having a field day pulling seedlings out, then the dog got in and dug a load up!

I'm chuffed to have these flowering, they are just gorgeous, - loving them. Many thanks to Silverleaf for sharing with me.
The colour is not as intense as yours Silverleaf but I think so pretty

[Galina]

Aren't they just so pretty. Glad you got there in the end against all problems. Hope they set well and make many seeds.

[Silverleaf]

Yay! I do love that crimson colour.

[jayb]

Me too, the colour is just stunning

I've two plants, one is a bit weak and not doing well, I'll be lucky if it set a couple of pods. The other plant looks good and fingers crossed will produce well. I'd really like to try a cross with a crown type pea, I should have some flowering in a day or two.

[Silverleaf]

Oh, that would be interesting!

I'm drying Telephone x Unity F2 seeds right now, and also Ra x Unity F2 (which should yield lots of different colours, hopefully). I really want tall crimson flowered peas!

[Silverleaf]

Think I crossed Beacon (cerise) with Unity this year as well.

[jayb]

They all sound super crosses, Telephone x Unity sounds yum, I've perhaps done one very similar Alderman x Unity

I can't wait to see your tall pea pictures coming through

[Silverleaf]

Looking forward to seeing yours too!

[jayb]

Unity is still going strong, though the earlier set pods have had really poor set mostly just one pea, plus some pods have been stolen! Fingers crossed I'll have some seed to save. The nice thing is the vines are much taller than I thought they would be and they have gone on to have a longer cropping period too.

Rather than loose it, I picked the pod Alderman x Unity cross, a bit early but I'm hoping it will be mature enough. I pulled the whole plant hoping some of the energy might go to the seed?

[Silverleaf]

It's always interesting to see how experimental material grows. I'm pretty sure that Unity was the result of a "let's persuade these plants to mutate and see what happens" experiment, and has just been picked out for its flower colour.

Of course that means that we have no real idea what its other qualities are, and it hasn't been selected for any of the things we look for in commercial varieties. That's really quite exciting! It may be completely hopeless as a culinary pea, but we can surely use it to breed a pea that is tasty and useful and has pretty crimson flowers.

Good to know that it has a long season. Mine didn't last so long because of the really dry weather we've had. How tall did they get for you?

Also, aren't the seeds interesting, with those brown markings?

[jayb]

I've only one plant that has grown properly, I would think it is around 5 1/2 ' maybe a little more.
I've a three little pods in the house which I haven't opened yet, look forward to seeing the seeds. I think I'll try one or two of the pods of peas, see how they taste. I doubt they will come in time for seed or avoid mice much longer

I'm chuffed the one has grown so tall though, can't wait to grow them next year, I'll start much sooner and wee what they can do.

[Silverleaf]

Cool, I haven't seen one that big so that's great to hear.

[Galina]

Unity was quick off the starting blocks and YAY! today we have the first flower. Not fully open yet, but no longer a bud. Have taken a photo but can't edit at the moment. The colour looks paler and slightly darker than yours Jayb, almost with a brown hue, but it is not exactly bright out there today. These are the first of any peas to flower this year. Delighted.

[Hector1]

Wow, what beautiful flowers! Not familiar with this one

[jayb]

They have done well

Hector, it's one Silverleaf obtained and is using in her colourful pea project, I believe it came with a reference number to identify it, but she also named it.