Help finding pea.

Hello all. Hope you are doing well.

My 80 year old mother gave away all of her pea seed several years ago to her brother who later died of Leukemia. His family did not keep any of the seed my mother gave him.

I have been trying to find the seeds for her on the internet to no avail. The peas in question was in her family for close to 100years, but none of the relatives plant gardens any more and all the seed are gone.

With your help maybe I can find replacement seeds. My mother said they were large whippoorwills with a blue tint (could be another variety). I have ordered several different peas...the Kirby's, and the Blue Goose. She said the peas she had were about three times the size of the Blue Goose.
If any one can help it will be greatly appreciated.
[e-mail:ibjammin8@hotmail.com]

These are a cowpea then...

Hmmm...Whippoorwills are a smallish pea, and the oldest strain of them are quite small..(I have those) I've also got Blue Goose, which is larger...the vines of the Blue Goose are quite unruly and will scramble all over the garden. Whippoorwills are a bit tamer and pretty much stay where you put them.

They are both speckled, but the Blue Goose is lighter in color...dried Whippoorwills are brown speckled.

There are literally hundreds of cowpea varieties...and there are new ones unearthed every year. Seed Savers Exchange listed 146 varieties in 2005...and that's just a drop in the bucket.

What color was the flower? this might help.

If she can give a bit of info on pod color, what they looked like fresh and what they looked like dried, this will help too.

I'll mark this thread to watch and hope I can be of assistance...( I collect old cowpea cultivars)

Hmm...I thought for sure it would be the Kirby's.

I wonder if she is remember the size of the fresh bean as compared to the smaller size of the dried bean/seed.

This certainly sounds like something I'll keep an eye out for, HBrown. And by the way...A HEARTY WELCOME TO DG!

Shoe.

How was the dried pea in relation to a dried common Blackeye? The size might give us somewhere to start.

Melody, and Horseshoe thank you for your response and the kind welcome.

To answer your questions:

She does not remember the color of the pea flower. I think they were white with a blue tinge about the size of a penny. (Going on a very foggy memory)

Pod color (fresh) - whitish-green with pink spots.

Pod color (dried) - light brown/tan.

Pea size (fresh) - the size of a large jelly bean / a little larger that a black eyed pea.

Pea color (fresh) - a fat pea...greenish/gray w/light brown eye.

Pea color (dried) - Speckled tan with a blue tint.

The size of the vines were knee high and would overlap the middles to look like a sea of vines.

I have eaten a lot of different peas, and these were the best tasting pea ever. Her father got the peas around 90 years ago in Sand Mountain, Alabama.

Thanks for your kind help.

HBrown