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@helenclayton
So many triangles! Lovely fluffy cloud day. How are you doing today?

@IcooIey triangles, yes! I struggled with describing it.

I’m trying to garden today. It’s sunny but breezy so I’m in the greenhouse sowing seeds.

Are you having a restful day?

@helenclayton

I’m very much wishing we had a greenhouse. I’ve got a few things started and will try to set up a station on the workbench in the garage with cobbled together bits. Want to get some nice kale and chard and mustards going.
Not a restful day really, must work on a project I put off last week and organize for the week ahead. Going to try looking for woodcocks this evening so that’s exciting!

@IcooIey I got caught out by the clocks going forward and thought it was much earlier than it was. I’ve sown tomatoes, cucumbers, french climbing beans, courgette and squash seeds so we’ll see what comes of that. Only a few of the sweet peas that I sowed or so ago have germinated so I’ve done some more. Just have to remember to keep things watered.

Good luck with the woodcocks! I hope you see some.

@helenclayton
I was goi g to get my sweet peas in today too, but the orchids needed care more. Hope to start them this week. Last year tried to sow directly and they were quite sad.

@IcooIey orchid care is tricky. I killed mine 😔. I hope I manage sweet peas better. I have to raise them up to stop mice nibbling them though.

IcooIey

@helenclayton
Have also killed too many orchids. Peas though, I had them in hanging baskets last year thinking of cascades of blossoms, but I sowed too late I think and it was too warm and they were somewhat sickly. I have some very robust fairly perennial sweet peas that spread and have become somewhat of a menace in another part of the garden, but bought seeds of some delicate fragrant ones last year. It’s always the things you neglect that do well and those you coddle that don’t.

@IcooIey glad it’s not just me that is prone to killing plants.

I’m really hoping for the best with my seeds. I’m a somewhat negligent gardener…forgetting that you can’t just plant things and walk off. My mum loved sweet peas so I’ll have some even if I have to buy the plants!

Those are stunning blooms!

@helenclayton
They really are and I feel I’m looking gift flowers in the mouth complaining about the way the vines take over.

@IcooIey Do your perennial sweet peas come in other colours? I love the idea (I have about 300 sweet peas growing right now - but all annuals) but I'm not that keen on the vivid pink which the ones I see round us seem to always come in... Havent' researched at all so I could do that too 😀

@JimmyB
These I have seen only in white, and pink-pale through vivid magenta. I’m also not in love with the color and bought seeds for pale blue, red/orange and a soft rose pink. But they were very unhappy last year so need to get them started soon.

@IcooIey So I've got annuals in white, purple, scarlet, cream... I buy long stemmed grandiflora types with strong scent. They're great, but they do take some proper looking after. They need so much watering. If I go away on holiday, whoever waters for me while I'm away, never can be persuaded to do enough so they are usually dying when I get back. But through May /June I'll have baskets of flowers so can't argue

I'd take white or pale pink perennials! It's the uber vivid ones I don't like.

@JimmyB I’d send you some seeds, they are very prolific! But that’s probably some kind of agricultural violation. And it’s impossible to know what color you’d get!

@IcooIey yes - shame about the seed thing because I’d like to do some exchanges around the world. But the risks are too great apparently.

I see those really vivid ones in hedgerows sometimes and am jealous of how little care they clearly need…

@JimmyB
Mostly they just make vines that overwhelm and smother everything. Very good to vent frustration on. Very satisfying to rip out.

@IcooIey I could out them in the hedge in the field opposite the house though!!

@IcooIey @JimmyB

The perennial ones have no scent. Mostly they are carmine but some have a bit more of a purple cast.

They are very rampant and untidy. The leaves have a rather bleached grey look and they are straggly. Old bits hang on.

The flowers in isolation are very bright and abundant though.

@JimmyB @IcooIey

Along with paeonies, in long abandoned gardens they are the survivor.

@IcooIey @lionelb I cannot grow peonies. Everyone else grows beautiful peonies. Mine just die!!! I should try again having improved the soil actually. Might be better now

@JimmyB @IcooIey

They hate disturbance. I would make a hole much bigger than the pot and twice the depth, then backfill with soil heavily enriched with compost. Let it settle a couple of weeks before planting.

@lionelb @JimmyB when we moved to our house, it quickly became a forensic gardening project to piece together the original owners lay outs and beds. Everything was so overgrown but the peonies were hanging on and once I moved them, seem happy as long as they are composted regularly. My former university has a remarkable peony garden.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=IdgnBzZv

m.youtube.com- YouTubeEnjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

@IcooIey @lionelb there you go! And I use Chiltern Seeds a bit and have never seen that. Colour is definitely too bright though…

@IcooIey @JimmyB

But I would recommend Lord Anson's pea.

www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk

@lionelb @JimmyB
So many lovely sweet peas! You know, no one grows them here (in the US, New England) you don’t see them at garden centers, or in people’s gardens. I just happened to see a few varieties in a sort of obscure catalogue last year and thought to give them a go. I wonder why they aren’t more common here?

@IcooIey @JimmyB

Saving seed is incredibly easy.

They can suffer from mildew. Maybe that discouraged people?

The scent is glorious.

@IcooIey @lionelb I plant some in October / November each year and then a stack more in Feb / March. I save a little seed but tend to buy fresh too. They are so lovely specially with their scent. Picking them can become a chore but it’s not a horrible one 😀