Pea ' Show Perfection '

[Galina]

A classic elegant, long podded shelling pea. The pods are very long, Between 6 and 7 inches with up to 11 peas. Nice sweet flavour too. On the minus side my pods were not all that well filled and whilst elegant looking, other peas like Champion of England or Telephone are much higher yielding.

But for shows, this is the classic pea.

Photograph shows just how long the pods are in comparison to a standard sized mug.

[jayb]

Sorry I meant to comment before. These just look so lovely, I can see why they do so well for the shows and those pods have great length. Are they easy to shell?

[Galina]

Yes they are easy to shell. A quick squeeze on the end of the pod at the opposite side of the stem and they open easily. I should however mention that Telephone pods, although a bit shorter, tend to be better filled. At least here they are. Maybe these need coddling a bit more than I have given them. I you'd like seeds you are welcome.

[jayb]

Excuse the time,
Telephone, I find very good, lovely tasting too. Thank you for the offer (over 2 years ago, my I'm slack!), but if I'm up to it I'll try and sow some of my oldie seeds this year in the hope some of them grow!

[triffid]

'Show Perfection' is claimed to be the same as the HSL 'Robinson' by W. Robinson & Son aka Mammoth Onion.

I grew 'Robinson' this year and it does look very similar. 'Stokesley' is another long tapered-podded variety that I think may fare well on the show bench. Also very delicious

Do you ever exhibit your veg Galina?

[Galina]

No, all this competition, mollycoddling and preening are pretty alien to me. Saving seeds and breeding new varieties are my excitement with peas. And eating them! Thank you for the "heads up" about Robinson and from the looks I agree. This is getting to be a bit of a theme that some varieties are the same under different names. No doubt started by 19th century seed houses readvertising the same old varieties as new selections under a different name. I wonder what work has been done to definitely exclude that they are one and the same. Having said that they do look very similar.

[jayb]

I must admit I do love going to the local agricultural show and looking at all the gorgeous veg, fruit and flowers people grow. I think comparing how my stuff looks at home to the show entries, I have to admire their skill in growing it to look so well! But the same as Galina my love is with seed saving, breeding, growing new varieties and the eating! It's good to know that there are some of the show varieties that not only look sensational but also taste great too.