No its not really, its more a celebration of the long sweet pea season I have had this year. I have grown sweet peas for many years now. I adore the scent and they are so easy to grow. The main problems I have when growing them is preventing them from getting eaten by mice, otherwise it is quite straightforward.
Some people like to sow them in Autumn, others wait until the Spring. I have tried both and in general I have had most success from Spring sowings. I do have a batch germinated in the greenhouse at the moment which is not my usual practice. I thought I would give it a try for an early show of flowers, but what I really want are sweet peas for as along as possible.
Sweet peas enjoy being picked regularly, it keeps them flowering, it is not a good idea to let them go to seed as they think they have done their job for the year and pretty much give up flowering much after that. I love to have them on the kitchen window sill, the scent makes me happy and whilst doing those kitchen-sink based jobs they sit there, smiling scentily at me. I should probably add I do not bother growing any that do not have scent, it seems a waste of time to me.
So it starts quite slowly, builds to a crescendo and then usually peters out around about September sometime, the placing of the sweet peas on the kitchen window sill. This year it seemed to start a little later, but I think I have just picked my last (very few now).
How do I ensure I have them late into the year, well I successional sow, usually two or three batches in the Spring and this year I was given the best sweet pea tip ever. Sweet peas benefit from having their tops pinched off when they have been growing a while, this keeps them from getting leggy and makes a sturdy climber. A gardening friend said that they treat these discarded top bits as cuttings and sure enough, I stuck some in a pot and they rooted really quickly, making yet another batch. I shall definitely make this part of my standard sweet pea routine. I am not saying I always have sweet peas in November, this is a very late flowering and down to sheer chance not fantastic gardening prowess.
If you are interested (actually even if you are not), my current favorite sweet peas are:Matucana -I always grow this, always always, the scent is just phenomenal
King Edward VII - a superb red and again incredible scent
Dorothy Eckford - a really good white and good scent
I then just choose what ever else takes my fancy!
The last bunch - picked 16 November
