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Seeking Norli Snow Peas

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19 years ago

Does anyone know of a source for Norli snow peas in the US? I used to order them from Shepherd's Garden Seeds, but Sheperd's doesn't seem to exist any more. And I should qualify my description. A search on Google did lead me to one US company that offered them, but the description did not match the Norli peas I knew. The ones I always grew were tall vines with small peas (so much prettier in a stir-fry than cut up big ones!) and they had purple flowers.

These were wonderful little peas that produced bumper crops and were beautiful while they were doing it! If anyone else grows them and could point me toward a supplier, that would be great.

-cynthia

Comments (6)

  • kathicville
    19 years ago

    Check out this link to Renee's Garden. Renee Shepherd was the founder of Shepherd's Seeds. She carries many of the same seeds, but under a different name. You'll find your Norli peas on the website.........

    Here is a link that might be useful: Renee's Garden website -- Shepherd's Seed equivalents

  • starleft
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Hi Kathi.
    Thanks for the tip.

    I have used Renee's seeds before (some really nice parsley) and been pleased with them.

    Unfortunately, what she lists on her site for the Shepherd's seeds are not the same, but "equivalents". In the case of Norli, what she considers equivalent is Oregon Giant Snow. While it shares the characteristics of tall vines and high productivity with Norli (and of course it is a snow pea) it lacks two other characteristics that attracted me to Norli - small peas (they are SO much more pretty in a stir fry) and purple flowers.

    I did get a tip from someone else about a place called Vinland Valley Nursery out in Kansas which does list them on their website. But they don't seem to do mail order. Emails to them were returned (box full) so my next step is to try to call them! I'll keep hunting!

    Thanks again. And happy gardening. The final shipment of my seed orders arrived yesterday. I am so excited!
    -cynthia

  • murraygrey
    19 years ago

    I found them but the company is in Great Britain. I, too, love Norli peas. I'll keep looking for a U.S. supplier.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Johnsons Seeds

  • murraygrey
    19 years ago

    Here's a source in Ohio!

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.felcopruners.net/Pea%20Seed.0.html

  • starleft
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Thank you Murray! I will try the Harvest Moon!

    I notice that the ones from Great Britain say they are dwarf. I'll be curious to see about the ones from Harvest Moon Farms. The Norlis I used to grow were tall (and with purple flowers - ironically it was the purple flowers that got me to order them in the first place, about fifteen years ago, but I kept on with them because of the productivity and beautifully sized peas).

    On another forum I was reading, someone had complained about a seed company they ordered from - and one complaint was that suddenly the Norli peas they were getting were short vines. He assumed they were poor quality seed but, after the research I've done trying to locate them I've concluded that there must be two distinct strains or some such thing, because I have found a couple of places that list them but describe them as having 18-20 inch vines.

    Thanks again for the lead. I'll order them today.

    -cynthia

  • mary_il3
    18 years ago

    I grew the Norli pea pods from HarvestMoon. The did NOT have the characteristic purple blossoms and were not nearly as prolific as my other Norli pea pods. Has anyone found another source?