Autumn is a great time to sow sweet peas for a summer filled with fragrance. I’ve been looking back at this year’s sweet pea gardening trials and which varieties I loved.
(#Ad Sent seed to trial. Not paid.)
It turned to be a very short season. I was late planting out due to life getting in the way and then the unrelenting heat meant the plants gave up weeks earlier than usual, despite regular watering.
The sweet pea that was the earliest to flower and produced the most blooms was one that had self-sown from last year – why do they always do far better than anything I plant? As such, I have no idea what it was beyond a lovely lavender with long stems.
All the sweet peas I trialled had a good scent. After all, what’s the point of a sweet pea that doesn’t smell wonderful?
There were some more lavender shades among this year’s sweet pea gardening trials. ‘Unique’ from Chiltern Seeds had beautiful markings that looked as though they’d been painted on.
Then there was ‘Charlie’s Angel’ from Kings Seeds that had petals of lavender shaded through to pale mauve. Quite beautiful. This also had long stems.
More delicate still was ‘Old Times’, also from Kings Seeds. I loved the cream and lavender colour of these flowers.
I always like some darker blooms to set off the pale tones and there were several in the range I grew.
‘Muse’ from Johnsons had dark flowers with a hit of cerise to the petals, giving it an almost irridescent quality.
Then there were a couple that, like many flowers, had blue in their names but actually turned out to be more purple.
‘Midnight Blues’ is a collection from Johnsons with rich blooms and long stems.
‘Mammoth Navy Blue’ (Chiltern Seeds) lived up to its name with large flowers, although I would judge it more purple than blue!
Brighter colours are always a good addition to a vase of sweet peas as they add a bit of zing to the mix. My favourite this year was ‘Annie B Gilroy’ from Chiltern Seeds. The cerise-red flowers were on long stems and the plants produced plenty.
Another touch of vibrant colour came from ‘Villa Roma Scarlet’ from Kings Seeds. It truly was scarlet and the flowers made a great contrast to the softer shades.
Sweet pea collections are nothing new and I trialled a couple. ‘Cupid Mix’ and ‘Solway Mix’ from Unwins produced dainty plants rather than the usual climbers that were perfect for a pot. The colour ranged from purple through bright pink to white.
Both are ideal if space is tight or for balcony and patio gardens. You can cut the flowers but the stems tend to be shorter so they are best put in a bud vase or similar.
I usually start my sweet peas off in January but I’m very tempted to do it in autumn this year. It will give the plants a head start in case we have another hot summer.
You can read about more of my gardening here.
Enjoyed this? Make sure you don’t miss future posts by adding your name to my mailing list.