A Sweet Pea Moment

A moment with sweet peas is rarely wasted and they are at their peak this time of year.  I grow sweet peas, not a lot of varieties, but enough to make me happy.  Some types I grow every year (Matucana, King Edward VII) and others come and go from the list depending on mood, last year's performance, availability and just what takes my fancy.  For the past couple of years I have been to visit Easton Walled Gardens in their sweet pea week.  It is worth a visit for the sheer sweet-peaness of it all and the flowers are there to see for much longer than a week.
The majority of sweet peas are to be found in the Pickery, the serried rows of blooms invite you to bend in closer and inhale.  It is against the law to not do this in this garden (unless you have a doctor's note or a note from your mum/close friend/pet cat).
It can take a long time to walk slowly up and down each row, stopping, inhaling, thinking, considering, comparing, approving or sometimes dismissing.  Yes some sweet peas are walked on from swiftly as they are too this, or not enough that.  There was much discussion.
The comparisons and discussions continued as we wandered into the display room close by the Pickery.  I thought that visually it was very pleasing.
The blooms were set off well by the white-washed walls.
The blooms could be really appreciated close up.
Back out into the gardens there were more sweet peas to find, these are in the vegetable garden, the immaculate rows of lettuces are a clue to this.
Yet more could be found in the Walled Garden itself.
and just in case you were wondering, there is far more to the garden than sweet peas,
far more,
there is even the odd poppy to admire.
Notes were taken, photos stored alongside names collected and I can confidently predict that there will be sweet pea buying later on in the year.