‘THE DREAM has at all times been a rainbow of peas.” That’s what Dylana Kapuler, co-owner of Peace Seedlings, mentioned to me greater than a decade in the past, and that dream continues to gas a ardour for breeding colourful, edible-podded peas on the organically managed, Oregon-based seed firm.
Able to suppose past your primary inexperienced pods and increase your palette to purple and yellow and even reddish shades, together with ones with flowers and lovely colours that hummingbirds particularly love, too? Dylana Kapuler and Mario DiBenedetto, who based Peace Seedlings in 2008 after serving to Dylana’s mother and father, Alan and Linda Kapuler, with their longtime seed-breeding venture known as Peace Seeds, have constructed on the spectacular legacy of Alan’s a long time of natural seed breeding—together with colourful peas.
In addition they have a lot of different legumes, together with 15 sorts of edamame, and we talked about how straightforward these are to develop, too, amongst different catalog options.
Their catalog is old-school type: Browse the range record on their web site, write up your order, and put it and your test for seeds and transport in an envelope.
Learn alongside as you hearken to the Feb. 9, 2026 version of my public-radio present and podcast utilizing the participant beneath. You possibly can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts right here).
colourful peas and extra, with peace seedlings
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Margaret Roach: Busy, busy? Has seed season been revving up this month?
Dylana Kapuler: Positively seed-packing season. And right here in Oregon, positively spring at all times begins early and we’re prepared to start out planting peas and all types of different issues.
Margaret: Oh my goodness. Yeah, like a lot of the nation, we’re frozen within the Northeast.
Mario DiBenedetto: We’ve had a really gentle fall and I imply now even the start of winter-
Dylana: I used to be going to say we hardly had winter, actually.
Mario: Yeah, we had been prepared simply to skip winter and go from fall to spring, however winter did determine to return final week for just a few days. We had some low 20s, however nothing that peas can’t take. A minimum of we’ve chosen ours for planting them out early, often February, typically even January. And in our local weather, now we have sufficient days or nights within the 40s, days within the higher 40s-lower 50s, that they germinate, come up, after which by the point spring comes, they’re able to jam.
Margaret: So the type of historical past of your peas, it began together with your father, I suppose, Dylana, breeding peas? So is a few of the oldest type of genetic materials or no matter we wish to name it, a few of the oldest varieties, how outdated do you suppose?
Dylana: Oh gosh. My Dad began rising, properly, breeding peas in I’m certain in all probability the 90s, perhaps really even 80s, he began enjoying within the peas. He actually was impressed by [Gregor] Mendel and form of blown away by all his discoveries and intrigue of peas on the whole, and skim a number of about Mendel, which is an old-school manner, old-school pea breeder, for those who don’t know.
Margaret: Positive, after all.
Dylana: Most individuals know, however I assumed I’d throw that in there. He additionally actually was form of postpone by all of the PVPs and-
Mario: Privatization.
Dylana: The privatization of a number of the pea varieties that had been accessible. And so he needed to make peas that didn’t have any strings hooked up. And so the primary pea that he did was ‘Sugaree,’ which is simply your basic scrumptious inexperienced vine pea. Very customary, however was a step above those that had PVPs [Plant Variety Protection], so you might save your personal seeds as a lot as you need.
Margaret: It’s form of just like the open-source thought of seed genetics, in order that they had been open-pollinated/open-source. No person was patenting them, so to talk [laughter].
Dylana: Yep, you bought it. After which he additionally actually was in a short time, it was like, properly, how do I make an edible purple pea? So he’s spent a great 20 years making an attempt to make the primary of its class of edible purple pea snap pea.
Mario: As a result of there was purple shelling peas, or there’s some outdated European varieties that had been purple shelling peas. So the genetics had been on the market, however simply not an edible-podded purple.
Margaret: Oh, I didn’t know that. There have been shelling peas with the purple pod. That’s attention-grabbing.
Dylana: So he spent the primary decade making the cross within the unsuitable route and didn’t get anyplace however a bitter pea. And so then he went again and began making the crosses in a unique route after which created ‘Sugar Magnolia’ [top of page], which was of its personal variety, a scrumptious, actually tall vine, purple-flowered, purple-podded snap pea.
Margaret: That’s great. And it’s change into fairly a success, I feel. I imply, different seed corporations carry it imply it’s change into fairly a factor. Folks find it irresistible, I feel, who’ve seen it and tried it.
Mario: Yeah, it’s positively change into one of many extra distributed pea varieties that he bred in all probability at this level.
Dylana: Nicely, ‘Inexperienced Magnificence’ [above] was additionally a normal extra of a snow pea, however if you let it mature—we form of name it a snow-snap, as a result of if you let it mature, it will get actually scrumptious and wonderful and massive and plump, and hands-down, probably the most wonderful peas that he bred, in my view, by way of taste and flexibility. We’ve gotten a number of rave opinions about it.
Margaret: In order that’s ‘Inexperienced Magnificence.’ Now, I imagine years in the past after we spoke about peas, not on the podcast, however simply collectively, you known as them “puffer pods,” is that proper? [Laughter.] Did I make that up? Do you name then puffer pods?
Mario: We did use that terminology. Yeah. I imply, it’s a distinctive trait.
Margaret: Sure.
Mario: I imply, shell peas really do it as properly. They type of puff up in case you are paying consideration. And lots of people suppose that snow peas needs to be picked flat, which you’ll decide a snow pea flat; that’s fantastic. However if you happen to let the seeds mature—I imply, identical to a snap pea, they’re rather a lot sweeter as soon as they mature. And a number of snow peas are that manner. Some get woodier, however ‘Inexperienced Magnificence’ is a type of you let it absolutely puff up, absolutely mature nearly as fats as a snap pea, but it surely’s a snow pea, and it’s the most scrumptious pea and has {that a} distinctive crunch. That’s the factor. The puffer pods have this crunch that’s nearly similar to a potato chip, or simply that satisfying texture in your mouth.
Margaret: Yeah, no, that’s the form of peas that I like probably the most as a result of it’s type of such as you’re getting the two-for-one factor, and such as you say, it’s that textural factor in addition to the flavour factor. However it’s counterintuitive as you see the pods get to a sure dimension. When you’ve got by no means grown one in every of these snow-snaps—I feel it’s a great time period that you just’ve made up for them—if you happen to’ve by no means seen what you’re considering, “Oh gosh, the pod’s going to be all stringy and nasty and woody,” and “Oh, I’ve let it go too far. I’ve let it go too far.” Are you aware what I imply? Yeah, as a result of not all varieties can try this, can go that far.
So your focus actually is edible-podded peas, proper? Not shelling peas, is that appropriate?
Mario: Yeah, that’s just about.
Dylana: There’s one outdated heirloom that we develop, ‘Multistar,’ that’s a bush shell pea that we develop and supply in our seed record, but it surely’s simply because it’s an superior selection. I like to have shell peas within the freezer regardless.
Mario: However all of the varieties that now we have bred, we’ve targeted on edible pods of each snaps, snows and a few which might be type of in-between.
Margaret: Proper. And the colours: So your father, Dylana, knew that—Alan knew that there was purple within the genetics of peas, within the shelling peas, and he labored to attempt to get that in. You might have some which might be yellow pods and you’ve got some which might be nearly like a, I don’t know, like they’re blushed or reddish form of trying, every kind of stuff occurring. I imply, how does that each one occur [laughter]?
Dylana: Completely. So the yellow additionally, he did develop a yellow snap pea that he used ‘Golden Candy,’ which is a snow pea and a outdated Indian selection, I imagine, to make ‘Opal Creek,’ which is a yellow snap vine. And in order that was the yellow that he created.
And it’s a—properly, I’m going to go off on tendrils for a second, as a result of it’s a daily tendril pea, which most individuals are extra aware of. An everyday tendril has obtained a curl with a handful of little curls off of it. Whereas he began breeding hypertendril peas, we name them, which is extra like… I imply, I don’t know the easiest way to name it’s a hypertendril, it’s like 10 tendrils put collectively or one thing. So it has the flexibility to carry on and handle itself higher than most peas. They’re rather a lot simpler to trellis contemplating.
Most all of the peas now we have bred up to now are vines. They maintain onto the trellis rather a lot higher than common tendril peas, which is to me a giant deal, as a result of I really like peas, however positively if you happen to get some form of stormy climate within the spring, you may find yourself with some peas pulling off the trellis. So in a number of the breeding that we’ve executed, we’ve continued pushing for an increasing number of hypertendril peas.
Margaret: Proper. No, it’s an awesome, and the primary time I noticed it after I grew one in every of your varieties, I used to be like, “What the heck is that this?…” [laughter], as a result of like, actually, it’s a distinction. I don’t know if it’s like 10 to 1 or no matter, however the little curlicue issues, there’s extra of them, and so they actually do maintain on, and it’s nice. It’s fairly totally different.
The opposite factor that’s totally different is a number of peas which might be the type of brand-name generic, ubiquitous pea varieties—a few of that are nice tasting and so forth, however as you level out, a number of them are form of the patented sorts or no matter; they’re not open-source—a number of them have white flowers. And you’ve got rather a lot that after I grew them, wow, a few of the flowers had been simply—I assumed it was nearly like I used to be rising the floral candy peas. Are you aware what I imply? It was like, they’re simply lovely flowers. In order that range is available in from in all places? [Below, ‘Purple Beauty.’]
Mario: Which may’ve been from the purple-podded peas, I feel was the place that…. that’s a great query. Yeah, I imply, so Dylana’s Dad initially did making the ‘Sugar Magnolia’ and the hypertendril, so these purple genetics… I feel one of many mother and father he used was this purple-podded ‘Parsley Pea’ is what they name it. And as a substitute of tendrils, it had leaflets, and it’s very distinctive; it’s a bush pea, a shelling pea-
Dylana: Extra of a salad plant is what it was despatched to him as. Some pal despatched it to him: “Oh, you is perhaps on this. This can be a actually cool salad plant.” The tendrils, identical to if anybody who doesn’t know to select the highest of a pea or the tendril of a pea on the proper stage, and so they’re completely scrumptious.
Margaret: Like pea shoots, so to talk. Pea greens, pea shoots. Yeah. Implausible. Scrumptious.
Dylana: Yeah, after which actually nutritious. I imply, a number of the opposite half that my Dad was at all times actually impressed by was how can we up the vitamin in common greens that we already develop? And in order that at all times was a part of the inspiration behind purple-podded peas was purple-podded peas are excessive in anthocyanins. So getting extra vitamin in our weight-reduction plan and all of the atypical greens that we eat is simply going to learn all of us.
Mario: And so he didn’t, I don’t suppose, notice that crossing that ‘Parsley Pea,’ they name it—it had leaflets as a substitute of tendrils—that crossing that with a daily tendril was what created the hypertendril. And in order that was simply type of an anomaly and a part of the breeding course of, if you carry collectively distinctive, obscure genetics, typically what you hope for is stuff to occur that you just didn’t even notice. I imply, that’s good alchemy is getting larger than the sum of the unique elements. One thing new occurs.
And so there was a number of, to get his authentic ‘Sugar Magnolia,’ the purple pod, and the ‘Opal Creek,’ the yellow, and this massive ‘Inexperienced Magnificence,’ or no less than ‘Inexperienced Magnificence’ and ‘Sugar Magnolia,’ as a result of these are each purple flowers. So then we had a purple, a inexperienced and a yellow. And so the following factor was how can we get a few of the remainder of the rainbow?
And it was really a girl in Europe who had a web-based weblog. And that is after we had been first beginning in 2008 perhaps, and she or he had a weblog speaking about making these vivid purple peas, and she or he had photos of them and so they had been completely wonderful, super-gorgeous, however they weren’t edible pods. And so it was like, whoa-
Dylana: And what led us down that rabbit gap, the place my Dad discovered it, and she or he was utilizing a few of my Dad’s varieties as mother and father. And so then it lit the hearth behind him once more of, “Oh my God, we have to get again into this pea-breeding venture.” It was form of put aside due to all of the issues that you just do in life.
Mario: So the belief was that to get purple, you cross the purple and the yellow. I imply, it appears fairly apparent. So we lastly did that, and that’s the place we obtained the ruby coloration is that purple over a yellow pod. And that was as shut as we had gotten to-
Dylana: So then now we have ‘Ruby Magnificence’ [above], which is a snow vine, and ‘Ruby Crescent,’ which is a snap of that comparable coloration. And it’s only a distinctive coloration. It’s not fairly the purple that we had initially considered creating at that second, but-
Mario: After they’re younger, they’re fairly darn purple. As they mature, the purple is extra pronounced, so it’s extra of a ruby coloration. We had been nonetheless excited.
Dylana: The best way they appear within the backyard when the solar comes by them is the murals. It’s like stained glass. It’s simply actually wonderful. They usually style scrumptious and I really feel like carry a brand new hue, which is fairly enjoyable and wonderful.
Margaret: So in breeding peas, are you on the market with a paintbrush transferring pollen round, or what?
Dylana: In breeding peas, not fairly with the paintbrush. We use the flower, the decapitated flower I suppose, because the paintbrush. However yeah.
Margaret: O.Ok., so that you’re transferring… you’re taking flowers and touching them to 1 one other.
Mario: What lots of people don’t notice is {that a} pea flower, as soon as it’s opened, it’s already pollinated. So that they’re not depending on pollinators to make pods. They’re fantastic, and so they’re glad that bumblebees actually love them; pollinators can come.
Dylana: The hummingbirds love them, as you mentioned of the purple flowers [below].
Mario: However the actuality is that they’ve already pollinated themselves, and so that you don’t get a lot outbreeding they name it. Due to that, they’re fairly self-fertile. And so to make a cross, you need to open a flower earlier than it opens, or break aside a flower earlier than it opens, and take pollen from a unique one which’s mature and pollinate that flower. So yeah, it’s, of the entire breeding, it is extremely hands-on, meticulous work.
Dylana: The primary yr, if you happen to’re fortunate, you get 4 or 5 seeds [laughter]. After which positively each cross is a really coveted pod. And even the following yr, I keep in mind my 3-year-old when she was little, she went out and simply picked some peas. I used to be like, “Wait, what are you doing?” These first couple years are positively very finite, the variety of seeds that you just get.
Margaret: Mendel will need to have been a affected person man [laughter]. Apparently you don’t have any scarcity of different legumes, I observed, I used to be trying on the record once more this week in your web site, and you’ve got 15 sorts of edamame sort soybeans, extra inexperienced beans that I can rely. And I imply, you positively have a factor for peas and beans don’t you two? [Laughter.]
Dylana: Yeah, I really feel like a part of it’s I grew up vegetarian, and my mother and father had been at all times actually keen about having a various, nutritious weight-reduction plan. And clearly legumes are a few of the highest in amino acids. And my Dad at all times was actually keen about, actually, we don’t want protein, we’d like all of the amino acids that make up the protein, that nourish us.
Mario: Your physique breaks proteins down into these free amino acids. That’s what we use. So only a totally different mind-set about vitamin.
Margaret: So the legumes are—and I’m a vegetarian for in all probability 50 years already, so legumes are an essential a part of that weight-reduction plan; so I get it. I didn’t know that was your reasoning. In order that’s attention-grabbing.
Dylana: I don’t suppose it’s a preconceived reasoning, however if you say that, that’s what involves thoughts might be the pure motive behind it. I imply, there was additionally that within the Willamette Valley, folks weren’t rising soybeans. And there was this wonderful seed curator, Robert Lobitz, when my Dad was a part of the Seeds Savers Change community, and he had this unbelievable record of soybeans. So him and my Dad turned seed allies and mail-order mates, so to say. And he began ordering a number of his soybeans and testing then, seeing how they grew within the Valley. And so then he began accumulating a set of soybeans that grew rather well for us. And I imply, edamame is such a enjoyable crop, so scrumptious and really easy to freeze it and stash it. And but not lots of people notice how straightforward it’s.
Margaret: It was like, “Margaret, why aren’t you rising these?” As a result of I imply, if I’m going to a restaurant that has them, I would like an entire huge bowl of them. I really like them, and type of simply steamed with somewhat salt or no matter and eat them entire. So are they straightforward to develop? Are they like rising peas or is there some trick?
Dylana: They’re nearly simpler to develop. You don’t want a trellis. I imply, they’re plant with a number of construction. They maintain their pods proper on the plant. They beautiful a lot, most edamame, they mature all of sudden. So when you’ve gotten a mature edamame plant, you may minimize the entire plant, take it out into the shade in the summertime and strip all of the pods off without delay.
Mario: I feel that like several backyard plant, it comes all the way down to timing. And the edamame are in all probability one of many later legume that you just plant.
Dylana: For us no less than. I imply, now we have clearly a unique season than some folks.
Mario: However they like hotter soils, so it’s somewhat later into spring to get them to germinate. Nicely, I imply that’s actually the one trick. Apart from that they’re simply as straightforward as any inexperienced bean or another legume.
Margaret: Nicely, you’ve gotten fairly the record of these. There’s so many issues on the record [laughter]. I at all times wish to pore over your record and see what what’s on supply. You type of have this sesame grex—inform me what the heck is that?
Mario: Nicely, yeah, and it’s one of many few issues we don’t use the phrase grex, however yeah, perhaps we do. We name it Shades of Sesame.
Margaret: Shades of Sesame, O.Ok.
Mario: It’s a grex. I imply, we began with white, tan and black sesame, and we actually like gomashio, we like za’atar, we like tahini. For a vegetarian, it’s a high-nutrition, good meals. And so we had been motivated to develop our personal. After which as soon as we realized-
Dylana: It’s very subtropical, you need to additionally notice usually sesame is a subtropical crop. And in order Mario was saying, we realized we would have liked to interbreed them to perhaps get them to work properly in our local weather outdoors. So, certain, we may develop them in a greenhouse, however we don’t actually have a number of greenhouse house, and we prioritize it for issues that basically want it.
Mario: And we needed to pick out for hopefully one thing that folks all around the nation might be rising that will perhaps be extra tailored to cooler, cooler climates.
Dylana: So now now we have this actually epic, as we name it, Shades of Sesame. It’s obtained grey seeds and tan seeds, white seeds and black seeds, all of the totally different mixes. And we’ve actually made a number of progress in getting it to develop higher and higher in our local weather, and we will simply pull off a crop. I don’t know, I feel we grew 10 kilos final yr, which isn’t even that huge of an quantity of house. It’s really spectacular how a lot you may develop in a usually fairly small house. And what’s actually cool about sesame is it’s a very easy—I imply, I suppose I can’t actually name it a grain as a result of it’s not, but it surely’s much like grains in sure methods. However the pods simply open up. And so when the pods begin opening up, you narrow it and also you let it end drying, after which you may simply shake it out and it simply pours out of the pods.
Margaret: So it doesn’t want some form of huge processing.
Dylana: Precisely.
Mario: No, the time period “open sesame,” it comes from the seed pod.
Margaret: [Laughter.] I didn’t know that. That’s so humorous.
Mario: Yeah, if you happen to house out, hastily these pods are opening and your sesame is type of on the bottom in your area.
Margaret: I needed to ask you about another factor, which is amaranth, not only for flowers, however for microgreens.
Mario: Yeah, I imply, microgreens has been an attention-grabbing, actually common factor that’s occurring proper now throughout. And so we’re on the Saturday market and now we have mates there which might be doing microgreens, and the purple amaranth, the most typical one, ‘Purple Garnet,’ you may see why folks develop it. It’s neon pink, it appears wonderful. It’s excessive vitamin.
Dylana: Tremendous-mild taste.
Mario: And so it was simply cool to see that as a factor. And clearly the microgreens folks, they undergo a number of seeds. So clearly as seed growers you relate like, O.Ok., these are potential huge buyer base of people that need microgreens. And so we occurred to be doing a bunch of amaranth breeding and realized, yeah, there was type of a distinct segment, so we began deciding on for actually vivid yellow stems simply so as to add one other coloration spectrum into the microgreen world. In order that is without doubt one of the issues we’ve been doing with amaranth.
Margaret: Nicely, at all times good things from Peace Seedlings. Thanks guys for making time, Dylana and Mario, at this time to speak about it. And now go fill some extra seed packets, and I hope I’ll speak to you quickly once more.
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