a most cherished vase of sweet peas on 'In A Vase On Monday'. Alas there will be no copious bunches of sweet peas this year to adorn the kitchen windowsill or to pass on to friends - the first time this will have happened in years 😢 It's a happening that has caused some me some grief as sweet peas along with their scent are my all time favourite summer annual flower. I sowed them in the greenhouse at the start of what turned out to be a bitterly cold March. They were planted out in late April looking positively jaundiced, limped through May, survived the drought and heat of June and have finally flowered in this so far wettest of Julys. The flowers include the usual suspects 'Matucana', 'Erewhon', 'Gwendoline', 'Eclipse' and the new to me 'Black Night'. I have decided that this year I will be edging my bets and will also sow a just in case batch in the autumn.
Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. Do visit and see what flowers and foliage she and other bloggers have in their vases this week.
So sorry to hear about your poor display of sweet peas, Anna, especially when you love them so much. Having been so disappointed in the mix on one of my stands of sweet peas, I can share in a little of your grief, but have to say that here all of mine have performed possibly better than ever before. I have often remved mine before now, but this ear they are still going strong, albeit it with rather shorter stems than before. You have chosen a good blend of varieties 👍
ReplyDeleteOur sweet peas haven't done as well this year either. It didn't help when the greenhouse frame from an adjoining plot blew into them last week
ReplyDeleteDon't know wht I was anonymous Sue Garrett
DeleteOh those are stunning and I bet smell incredible.
ReplyDeleteIt has been the strangest of growing seasons, but I am sure you will cherish the few blooms you have, and it sounds as if you are laying contingency plans to make sure all avenues are covered for next year.
ReplyDeleteThose sweet peas deserve a prize just for getting through all those obstacles! I'm sorry the weather treated you so unfairly this year. Sweet peas in summer are unheard of here. The conventional wisdom is to sow the seeds in September to bloom in late winter/early spring but this year the seeds I sowed in late October did virtually nothing until April, presumably because our temperatures were far cooler than usual.
ReplyDeleteThe survivors are sweet. Beautiful Sweet Peas, I hope you get some more. Amelia
ReplyDeleteSad that you haven't had many sweet peas, but the ones you have are beautiful. Lovely choice of colours. I haven't grown any this year and I really miss them.
ReplyDeleteI think your sweet peas deserve a medal for going through all that torment and still coming out on top and flowering beautifully! Such a shame there are so few to pick though and I do hope you have better conditions next season. I can't grow them here at all simply because we usually go from freezing cold to boiling hot in late spring. Hope an autumn sowing works out for you Anna. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you in this. I live in Southern NJ. I try sweet peas almost every year. I've had some success and a few blooms, but never the heavenly specimens I see in the nearby Longwood Gardens Conservatory every winter. Mine are also sickly-looking affairs, even when they do bloom. This year, if they bloomed, I missed it. They never grew tall enough for me to get a good look at them after planting. Better luck again for both of us. PS I even tried growing a few indoors, they grew leggy and seemed like a maybe success, then just totally dried out. Bah!
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity about your sweet peas. So much damage has been done to our gardens this year because of very unpredictable & unwelcome weather patterns.The sweet peas you have in the vase are lovely and I hope that next year is a better growing one for you - and all of us.
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