Three of our seedlings are germinating in New Zealand fields.  One nicknamed the Big Brother grows 2-ft long stems and 3-inch wide flowers from the smallest Sweet Pea seeds we ever sowed.  Valerie Harrod and Mrs Bernard Jones were the parents: the colour is a nice salmon pink on white with a fair amount of frill. Flowers as big as that need unusually strong texture to withstand the weather, but this one would certainly please exhibitors who grow their peas under covers.

 

The reason for sending the Big Brother to New Zealand is to see whether a commercially viable seed crop is possible.  The other two are there being bulked up by Unwins. These two are our latest lavender, Solitude  and the classic cream-pink Supernova, which have both been in New Zealand at our expense for the previous stage of bulking-up, and should be on the market a year from now.

Thomas Butterly has brought the young plants through the most severe winter he has experienced since he started growing Sweet Pea for cut flower. The former tomato glasshouse allowed only a few losses despite the lack of any heating.  We had been concerned that growing Sweet Pea in peat-filled upright 5-litre and 10-litre black plastic bags might expose the plants to greater risk of frost damage than in the former years when they were planted in the ground.

 

The Cooltonagh seed section consisted of bush-style plants supported by netwire and string.  First in view was Karen Harrod. From one metre above ground we saw a consistently mid-blue mass of bloom more than 4 metres long 1 metre wide and 2 metres high with a few leaves showing through here and there.  Pods were setting on May 19th and by June 16th there were plenty of fat ones.  

 

Thomas drew our attention to the sweetness of perfume surrounding the block of our new lavender called Solitude, showing off a quality we hadn’t really noticed.  By June 16th the first ripe pods were rattling ready for picking, and their contents are now growing in New Zealand for Unwins Seeds Ltd.

 

 

We are delighted to announce that outstanding exhibitor and breeder Mr Chris McAleer of Balbriggan has joined the Cooltonagh stable, readily agreeing to vouchsafe to us his excellent mauve Bridget McAleer, FCC, so that colleague Thomas Butterly can produce enough seed at Rush in time for the 2013 season.

 

Inspired by John Markham and eager to encourage more growing and showing of Sweet Pea in Ireland, we have formed a joint project with the RHSI under which summer shows in Ireland may include two classes restricted to growers who have not shown Sweet Pea since 2007.  Eligible members of the RHSI and/or its affiliated societies and clubs can apply to us for Starter Packs of seed and instructions either through their organisations (€1) or directly (€3).  Details can be seen at http://cooltonagh.co.uk/rhsiproject

 

Unfortunately the  topically-named Olympic Flame cannot be sold in the UK under its true name for legal reasons.  We thought it would be a nice touch to sell it as Forbidden Flame, but Unwins have played safe: You can get it from their Mail Order Department but you have to ask for Flame.  It is only obtainable on request because stocks are low as a result of the unusually hot 2011 harvest season in New Zealand.

 

Lauren Landy’s paler sister Sophisticated Lady is now on sale exclusively from Kertons Sweet Peas. We have tried to unravel the mystery of how some packets of Kertons’ Karen Harrod came to have pink strangers in them, but reports differed regarding the base colour of the pink flowers. We will  compensate our customers who co-operated in the investigation, sending properly mid-blue Irish-grown Karen Harrod.