I adore sweet peas. The first time I recall them is when my mother planted them along her back fence the year I was pregnant with the Young Philosopher. She would cut bunch after bunch of them and bring them indoors, and the scent was divine.
When I moved from eleven years living in a flat to a house with a tiny garden, I grew them myself several times along my side fence at the front of the house, and they were glorious. These days, I have pyracantha bushes, a clematis that has taken over, and a few other things growing along that fence that means my regular sweet pea spot is no more. The last few years I have tried growing them up a wigwam in pots, with no success. This year I have some in a pot, which are very tatty looking and about six inches tall, and some which I planted to grow up canes by the front door. They were planted late, and with the summer we have had (or rather, not had) I have not expected much at all, but today, there they were, half a dozen lovely little purple and white blooms. I have them on the kitchen windowsill, and keep wandering over to sniff them. I waved them under the Prof's nose this evening, to demonstrate how gorgeous the scent is. 'Hmm', he said. 'Smells like air freshener'.
Joining the August Break
i LOVE LOVE sweetpeas and never got organised to grow them this year.
ReplyDeleteI was very late, almost too late not to bother, and then with the weather as well, the plants are not very healthy looking. At least I have my few little flowers :)
ReplyDeleteDetermined to do better next year! (even if Philip does think they smell like air freshener!)
I love sweetpeas - both their glorious pastel colours and their wonderful smell. You're right, they are the scent of summer. Sadly, I've never had any success whatsoever in growing the little blighters!!
ReplyDeleteThey are not easy. In pots they seem to be so prone to powdery mildew, and I don't like spraying with nasty stuff :/
ReplyDeleteYou had me at sweet peas, Debbie. I love the photo.
ReplyDeleteIt brought up some beautiful memories of the first day we moved into our old Edwardian home. Our beautiful new neighbours, two lovely sisters in their sixties, brought over a massive bunch of sweet peas, a dozen fresh eggs and an enormous cream-filled sponge cake. What a way to be welcomed to the neighbourhood by two strangers.
Thank you for the reminder. One of our neighbours has since passed away but every time I see or smell sweet peas I am reminded of that day. I'm going to plant some very soon in our Australian garden and when I start my blog (very soon) I will post a photo of big bunch of sweet peas when they are in full bloom.