The Sweet Pea is my favourite of all the summer flowers. It's scent is unlike any other flower. It is heady, rich, distinctive. Sweet peas come in every colour but yellow, of all things. It is an old flower, that got its start in Italy, in the 17th century. A Sicilian monk, Fransicus Cupani, sent the seeds to England. This clever monk gave the sweet pea its original name ( it's a mouthful): "Lathyrun distoplatyphyllus, hirsuts, mollis, mano et permamaeno flore, odoro". ( It was shortened to "Lathyrus ordoratus" by a Swedish botanist named Linnaeus). Scottish gardener, Harry Eckford, crossbred the flower and the little sweet pea of the modern age came into being.
In April I stuff seeds into the ground, into pots, into any trough I can get my hands on.
By May they pop up onto their cages. Sweet peas are grown mostly in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada.
They like Sea Soil, fertilizer, but you don't have to fuss over them.
In late May the sweet pea patch looks like this. The Spencer variety of sweet pea is my favourite. It is named from Princess Diana's family, and there is a sweet pea variety called the Countess Spencer. Not bad for a little flower, that only blooms a while during the summer.
Sweet peas are said to improve general well being, and lessen the affects of a hangover if one sniffs a bouquet of the flowers. If anyone has tried this, it would interesting to know if this was true!
Sweet peas start flowering usually in June. This year the season was great. But it got HOT so fast that the sweet peas were stressing and wanted lots and lots of water. They like it a bit cooler, with heat but not scorching.
By 1913 there were 1700 acres or more, of sweet peas being grown in California. The seed pods are widely sought after . I collect as many seeds as possible at the end of the season, then use them again the next year.
There are about 160 species, and out of these Cambridge University used sweet peas for genetics research.
Italians call sweet peas "Pisello odoroso"
"Guisante de olor" is the term the spanish use.
2000 was the 100th year of the Nation Sweet Pea Society.
By the end of June, the sweet peas have started to flower profusely.
I find I have to keep cutting them to keep getting a fresh supply every day
Sweet peas will self pollinate while still budding. They do not need bees to pollinate.
Sweet peas are beautiful, but if consumed in quantity , can me hazardous to your health.
Now in July, the sweet peas are flowering every day.
But I do notice that their days are becoming numbered, as the extreme heat we have been experiencing is causing the tendrils to start drying out at an alarming rate.
So I pick with abandon, to capture as many moments as I can with them.
Some of original flowers were named for UK nobility like the "King Edward VII".
Part of the problem a few weeks ago was that in the 34Celsius heat,
the sweet peas were becoming covered with aphids.
I had not seen that happen, unless it was the end of the season and seed pods growing.
My solution was to spray them with Safer's Soap.
And dump leftover soapy dishwater over them.
But with so many sweet peas that was an impossible task.
With the heat toning down last week, the aphids disappeared.
The sweet pea is considered one of the most blissful.
And perhaps the word enchanting comes to mind. Enchanting. Sweet. Romantic.
I remember, as a child, the garden being filled with sweet peas. They grew up the side of our house, and when the windows were open, that wonderful scent would float in.
The traditional flower of Remembrance.
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