Well, it is for me anyway.
Pictured above is the first flower bud on one of my F2 peas, in this instance Golden Sweet x Sugar Ann, my yellow sugarsnap project. The only other pea in the garden currently producing buds is Alaska, whose synonym is Earliest of All. So this one is very early. Both the original varieties in this cross are fast maturing, Sugar Ann particularly so, but it's likely I'll see a bit of variability in these F2s.
This project is a hybrid between a white flowered and a two-tone purple-flowered variety, so the F2 plants are likely to segregate into different flower colours (the F1 generation were all purple as that's the dominant gene). It's too early to tell what colour this flower will be, but so far it looks very, very like a Golden Sweet flower. It has a yellow penduncle and a creamy-yellow calyx, which are both Golden Sweet traits, as well as the obvious yellow tinge to the young leaves. I can see a tiny bit of pink colouration on the inner petals of the bud, so I think this one is going to go purple.
I have just today seen two other plants in this F2 batch producing tiny flower buds. Not like this one though, they both have a green calyx and look more like Sugar Ann flowers. The creamy-yellow calyx is a recessive trait so most of the plants will probably have the green ones.
Can't wait to see this flower open!
3 comments:
OK, I'm off to the veg garden to inspect the peas - you've inspired me to get to know the individual characteristics. I'm growing six varieties this year (I know that just the tip of the pea wigwam!).
Celia
PS I've had no luck with my unearthed Lazy Wife beans - how did you get one with the ones I sent to you?
hi rebsie
posted some pictures of the lovely dwarf beans you sent me yesterday.. they're looking pretty!
mystery peas are through, but all look the same at present, so will wait a bit longer before taking photos :-)
I've had no luck with the Lazy Wife either so far ... but the Poletschka is coming along very nicely.
Hedgewitch - glad the beans are bringing some joy. With the peas, look out for a maroon or purple splodge where the leaf joins the stem, as that's likely to be the earliest sign of any purple pods or flowers. It starts to develop during the seedlings' first few weeks of life.
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