A knowledgeable gardening friend told me the other day that she would soon be planting some sweet peas in a bare patch of earth that had appeared in her garden. It seems so early, but sweet peas like cooler temperatures.
Sweet peas. They're such a wonderful, old-fashioned, much-loved gardening favorite! The scent is unlike any other, a fragrance that reminds me of warm afternoons and tea parties with my Mom, and the lush gardens of several of my aunties. What other sweet pea memories do I have? Sweet peas were one of the first flowers I grew in my own little garden patch as a child; Daddy set up a small piece of chicken wire between two sticks for the vines to climb; and how excited I was to pick that first bouquet for Mom. In my mind's memory, they were pink, mauve and red, the scent bursting forth on that summer morning. (I know it was morning because I ran outside first thing every day to see how my little garden was doing!) In fact, "Sweet Pea" was my nickname for my beloved Mom.
So after I strolled down memory lane thinking about sweet peas, it was time to do some solid homework about them. Though they have been cultivated for over 300 years, the flowers as we know them now were bred by a Scotman, Mr. Henry Eckford. Henry and sweet peas had a beautiful friendship, and he eventually created over 100 cultivars of sweet peas, earning awards of merit along the way, including the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honor. Henry did all his cross-breeding at test gardens in a little place called Wem, in England. Wem began hosting an annual sweet pea show, and now many of the street signs bear a picture of a sweet pea. That's an interesting little factoid!
On the practical side for us gardeners, sweet peas are usually seeded directly outdoors as soon as the ground has warmed up and dried up after the winter snows. They are annuals, with vines growing up to six feet. Sweet peas come in a wide variety of colors, and you and I both know how treasured they are for their fragrance. They will do well with support of wires or stakes to climb. The more you pick sweet peas, the better they will produce. I read that they also enjoy a treat of fertilizer with a high number of potassium, and I also learned that blood meal will help to keep the stems long, perfect for our bouquets! I have heard that you can even grow a few sweet peas in pots, as long as you have a trellis in the pot for them to climb. That might be an interesting experiment for anyone who is space-challenged.
I would like to plant some sweet peas this year for my Mom; why don't you try them, too?
The next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the Sunshine Room at SIGN on North Street. Our special guest will be Robert Vallaster, talking to us about growing and using herbs for healing. I know many of you are very interested in the idea of natural remedies, and many of us appreciate herbs not only for their healing gifts but for their beauty in the garden, so I'm sure we'll learn a lot at this session. Everyone is welcome to join us.
If you are still interested in the bus tour to Regina on April 30, call Liz at 782-2830. Till next time, have a good week!
