Jilly Sweet Pea Seedling Plants

Jilly Sweet Peas

The blushing bride of the sweet pea world! Jilly is a demure shade of ivory, opening from lime green buds to the freshest, purest cream scented flowers, which stand out prettily against the lush green stems. She's popular in wedding bouquets, obviously, and with anyone growing sweet peas to cut and bring in for posies in vases around the house, as the stems are strong and the scent is knockout. In fact, she's an award-winning sweet pea, popular with show growers as well as the average gardener. Take a look at the others in our sweet pea range.

Our Sweet Peas are delivered in purpose-designed, recycled cardboard packaging, and are ready to be planted out when you get them.
We generally send them out between March and May, but we will email you with the likely delivery timescale once you have placed your order.

Of course, sweet peas are one of the English garden's quintessential flowers, scrambling prettily up trellis, obelisks or cane wigwams to create a haven of colour and scent, with minimal skill and attention. If you only have room for a couple of varieties, make one of them a white one, like Jilly, as she'll complement and lift any other colour, so you'll always have the perfect partner outdoors and in a vase.

Features

• Colour: Pure ivory
• Stem: long
• Height: 2.2m
• Type: Spencer
• Scent: strong and heady
• Flowering: May to October
• Planting Months: March-June
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing

You can never have too many sweet peas. That's a scientific fact. So grow Jilly in a sunny border with more sweet pea varieties that will partner her well both outside and in vases indoors. Being such a fresh shade of ivory white (but not wishing in any way to sully her name), she will go with pretty much anything. That said, a deep maroon such as Black Knight makes a lasting character contrast, as does rich purple Lord Nelson. Whatever you grow her with, make sure she has support in the form of an obelisk or canes, and take a little time in spring to guide the young tendrils towards their supports – after that, she'll romp away. Combine with a summer honeysuckle – claret-tipped Lonicera belgica is a great choice – and you'll set up a pretty scented partnership that is pure romance.

One thing they can't do without is plenty of water, so give them a regular soaking with the hose in hot weather.

Plant Jilly Sweet Peas in well prepared, moist soil that ideally was enriched with organic matter the previous autumn. Erect supports for the peas to climb up before planting. They can also be planted in pots of sufficient size - allow 6 litres per plant - and with an ideal planting medium of 50% compost, 40 %top soil and 10% well rotted manure. General purpose compost will do however but produces fewer flowers.

Jilly can be grown in a container, as long as it is large enough - allow at least 5 litres per plant - and they are kept well fed and watered, as sweet peas are famously thirsty and greedy. Make sure they get plenty of water and potassium (potash) rich plant food, such as tomato fertiliser.

The principal requirement is enough water - Sweet Peas are thirsty and hungry plants. They can cope with a little shade but flower better in full sun.

Space each plant about 30 cm apart and about 5 cm from its support. The hole should be deep enough to accommodate the longest root and the soil should come up to the level of the first side shoot. Use wire/netting/twine between the supports so that the Sweet Pea can climb naturally. You will still need to tie them in to the frame. They grow fast, so check every ten days or so.

Water well; the soil around sweet peas should never dry out. As the flowers develop pick them, and then pick again, otherwise they start to form seedpods and will stop flowering altogether. Keep tying in and picking for as long as you can. Perfectionists will remove the curling tendrils which grip other stems and can result in flowers with wiggly stems and also will remove side shoots. see the website for more advice on training sweetpeas.

By all means apply a high potash and phosphate fertiliser during the growing season. (Sweet Peas actually fix nitrogen from the air into the soil so you don't need more of that.) Home-made comfrey liquid is perfect or Tomorite will do especially if you are on a sandy soil.