 Return to List |
SWEET PEA - LADY GRISEL HAMILTON SWEET PEA Lady Grisel Hamilton lathyrus odoratus The garden's love affair with the Sweet Pea goes back to Sicily in 1699 where it was “discovered” an Italian monk. From 1899, shiny pale lavender blossoms grace the vines. Type: Annual Light: full sun Soil: fertile Space: 15cm Height: 1.5m Season: early summer to frost. Propagation. Soak seeds overnight, direct seed 2.5cm deep soon as the ground is workable and frost is still possible. (preferred method) OR Start indoors 4 weeks before last frost. Germinate @ room temperature. Cover seed. Set out after frost danger. Pinch back when 15cm high. Mulch to keep roots cool. Provide netting for them to climb on. SEED COUNT: Approx. 30 "Do I imagine or is it fact that lavender and mauve and purple Sweet Peas have the sweetest fragrance? There is an old variety called Lady Grisel Hamilton that is delightful." writes L.B. Wilder in The Fragrant Path. Bred in 1899. A flower with a mystique exhaulted to almost angelic proportions is the heavenly sweet pea. The gardener's love affair with the Sweet Pea goes back to 1699 to the cool, mountainous pastures of Sicily where it was "discovered" by an Italian monk. Seed was sent to a Dr. Uvedale, a gardener and physician in England who grew it under glass. Its heady fragrance made it most desirable and after the development of several new colours and an increase in bloom size, it was much sought after cut flower gracing the finest of tables. In the language of flowers, the sweet pea means adieu or departure. Fanciers adore its intoxicating perfume, its colour and its generosity as a cut flower (but disagree on cultivation methods!). We soak the seeds, sow them directly in fertile soil in early spring 2.5 cm deep, pinch back when 15 cm high and provide netting or strings for them to climb up. Mulch to keep roots cool. Cut bouquets often to prevent seeds from forming. "Keep on cutting, keep on flowering" said J.S. Eckford, the son of Henry Eckford, the great Victorian sweet pea grower. A nursery catalogue from 1907 shows 461 varieties trialed at the Royal Seed Establishment in Reading, England. Exquisite and highly fragrant, these varieties of sweet peas from yesteryear are slowly making a comeback and we at Florabunda are delighted to offer multiple choices. |
$3.80 Qty: |
