Sweet Pea Varieties- Thompson and Morgan

Im back with round two of my sweet pea seeds run through.  Today its the ones I bought from good old trusty Thompson and Morgans and two from Eagle Sweet Peas.  I say 'good old' but I discovered the other day while clearing out my email inbox that Thompsons is emailing me at least every other day.  Whoa! Im as keen as anybody on the garden but thats a bit much.  Stop bombarding me.  Also they track when you have visited their site and send you an email thanking you for your visit, which is just plain creepy.

Anyways, that's all by the by, they sell nice sweet peas, although as usual the packaging irks me.  Only varieties sold in stores have pictures, hence why there is only one included in this post.

Turquoise Lagoon: Hello! Will you look at the colour of this badboy?! I am promised that these astonishing colour-changing blooms transform from pink to turquoise as they mature, even after cutting.  If so this will certainly liven up the traditional bunch.  Saw it, bought it, enough said.  This has disappointment written all over it.  This is bred by 'renowned' breeder Keith Hammet.  He may be an excellent breeder, but I have never heard of him.

Blue Shift: I was so taken with the concept of a turquoise colour changing sweet pea I also bought Blue Shift, turquoise's sister.  This one changes from mauve to true blue as it matures.  I clearly don't need both of them but I have very little willpower to resist pretty things with.  This is described as being 'totally unique' (clearly ignoring the similarity to Turquoise Shift here).

Little Red Riding Hood: This one is just too cute.  Exactly like the name suggests each flower has a bright pillarbox red hood in the form of the top two petals.  The bottom of each flower is white blushed with pink.  Love the look of it, love the name, love everything!

Prima Ballerina: This one is just so girly and pretty, with the flowers being either lilac, purple or cream on the same plant.  I really seem to have been taken by varieties that are a mixture of colours rather than just a solid one, in delightful girly pastel shades.  Not really my usual cup of tea at all.  However I cannot deny that it is rather special.

Spanish Dancer: When I was writing this post I got to the end of the packets and was rather disappointed to find that I had in fact not bought Spanish Dancer like I thought I had.  But I had, the packet had merely slipped under the box.  As thrilled as I am that I did splurge, you really don't need both Prima Ballerina and Spanish Dancer, just like you don't need both Blue Shift and Turquoise Lagoon.  Apart from me, I need all of them.  I don't get Thompson and Morgan, they describe the colour of every variety, and then for one just randomly doesn't.  This appears to be pale yellow with two shades of pink.  Delightful.

Having revisited the Thompson and Morgan site to see pictures of my purchases (see above for picture gripe) I am rather wishing I had also bought 'Tickled Pink' and 'Mollie Rilstone', although as both are creamy pink in nature Its probably best I haven't.  Next year.

I only bought two from a specialist grower this year, we will have to see whether they germinate any better than the last bunch.  I plumped for 'Leominster Boy', a salmon orange, and 'Charlies Angel' which should be pale blue.  Blue and orange do after all make such a good colour combination.  I had to buy these blind but a little googling has revealed that 'salmon orange' should really be called 'coral'.