Sweet peas

[Bill HH]

Those red ones, Firecrest, are nice aren't they

They are beautiful Martin, I got them because I think most sweet pea mixes have too many blue and not many red, I intended to mix them in with my ordinary ones, but I started them off on their own and my ordinary ones died so now i have an all red display. If they had more scent they would be perfection.

[Martin H]

They are beautiful Martin, I got them because I think most sweet pea mixes have too many blue and not many red, I intended to mix them in with my ordinary ones, but I started them off on their own and my ordinary ones died so now i have an all red display. If they had more scent they would be perfection.

I always put one or two "High Scent" flowers in the vase with the red ones. They have such overpowering perfume that it makes up for them. This way, no-one need know about Firecrest's embarrassing little secret.

[Knight of Albion]

Martin: 'Nearly at the top of the 8 foot canes' ... And in July. A problem I've had in the past. The more you water, the more they grow. Which is fine until the tempest comes along and 'whips' them over.

Last year I tried under watering for the first time. Two reasons 1) I'd gone on a water meter 2) Watering every other day in theory should encourage a superior root growth.
To my surprise, I had the best harvest of blooms ever. Picked the last lot on November 1st.

Something else I noticed was that the plants didn't grow so high, which was great because in the past when the wind got up the plants suffered terribly from 'whipping' and folded over, which of course not only damaged the plants but produced twisted stem growth on the blooms that were produced afterwards.

So trying it again this year and so far so good. A lovely harvest, picking a good sized bouquet every other day.

[Knight of Albion]

I always put one or two "High Scent" flowers in the vase with the red ones. They have such overpowering perfume that it makes up for them. This way, no-one need know about Firecrest's embarrassing little secret.

'High Scent', yes! I certainly wouldn't be without them. The perfume is divine.

'Gwendoline' is another favourite. Wonderful colouring and a good size bloom.

And the best sweet pea I've ever grown is T & M's 'Purple Pimpernel'. Good size, beautiful colouring.

[Scarlet]

The stems start to get shorter even on the cordon ones as the season advances. Some of mine are nearly at the top of their 8 foot canes now and I noticed the flower stems on those are getting a bit short. I'll start layering them in the next few

</smug>

What a show off !

[bearded bloke]

Nice one BB. See if you can ask an expert about when to collect seed?

Will do Martin, they are a nice lot always ready to share info with anyone interested enough to ask