Sweet Peas at Easton

2010-06-21T10:22:00.001-07:00

To kick off sweet pea week here are some of our favourite sweet peas.

Old Fashioned varieties

This sumptuous array of peas are all old fashioned varietes, their smell is reputed to be better than the new, bigger, blowsier peas. We haven't found much difference between them, but they are undoubtedly charming.

Here are two of our favourites. Lathryus odoratus 'Painted Lady' on the left is a famous old bi-colour pea. Shown above is 'Edward VII'. I like the idea of a pea, known for its remarkable deep cerise flowers, being named after a man with a big bushy beard.

A selection of modern cultivars including 'Windsor' (on left, deep claret colour) 'Mars' (red stripe) 'Nimbus' (purple stripe) and to the right, the beautiful blue of 'Our Harry'

A close up of 'Mars' on the right shows why it is one of the most remarkable of the peas we grow. The red and white makes it super patriotic for the world cup. It is also a good doer and we have grown it every year since we started our revival of the gardens and our fascination with sweet peas.

'Rosina' is for those of you who have had quite enough of the world cup. This excellent pea reminds me of early twentieth century colour pallettes (think Flower Fairies) and is long overdue for a revival as a fashionable colour.

Two other good doers with us are 'King Sized Navy Blue' and 'Jilly' . KSNB is always the first to flower, makes a big plant and I love this colour. If the plant is too strong for a small garden or container, try 'Lord Nelson' or 'Captain of the Blues' instead. Jilly is cream to white and sells well, partly to people called Jilly and partly because she is such a good flower.

We have over 60 varieties of sweet peas in flower at the moment so come and see us, choose your favourite, buy or order the seed from us and finally, how about a nice cup of tea?

Bees we know

2010-06-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

Like the rest of the country we have got very keen on our little furry friends,the bumblebee. Here are some images of bees seen in the gardens yesterday. They are feasting on the Nectaroscordum siculum, the clue is in the name. Also called Honeybells. Unfortunately, for humans, they just smell very strongly of garlic.

Easton Walled Gardens

Sweet Peas at Easton

Bees we know