Hello, sweet pea
Last autumn I spent a glorious day at the Hampshire cut-flower farm of Rosebie Morton. I told readers how I travelled back to London by train in a carriage suffused with the delicate, slightly peppery fragrance of great bunches of newly picked roses. Rosebie also has a sweet-pea farm near Chichester, and we agreed I should make a visit in spring, when the new season’s plants would be covered in blooms.
The emails sped to and fro as appointments were made and postponed due to the unprecedentedly awful weather. ‘We are in an unimaginable situation in that we are now in April and have only about 20 stems of sweet peas to show you,’ said one email.
By the middle of the month, production was picking up and I travelled through the bleached and crushed–looking countryside for my visit. Greenlines Nursery consists of 1.5 acres of glasshouses on a tight site. Despite its compact size, it is the largest grower of sweet peas in the UK, producing nearly a million stems each season.
Rosebie and her husband bought the nursery two years ago. It was an established business supplying Waitrose, run as a one-man-band with a picking team. Gerry Strydom, a former professional cricketer from South Africa seeking a career change into horticulture, was an inspired appointment. He worked alongside the outgoing owner for a year, during which he acquired in-depth knowledge of a tricky plant. Sweet peas are a challenging crop, requiring a long growing period and plenty of sun and warmth.
The glasshouses contain row upon row of tall sweet-pea plants, grown as cordons up strings, like tomatoes. They are grown in rockwool, using a hydroponic system and at the height of the season are watered 15 times a day. The seeds are sown in two batches – in October, planted out in December for the spring crop, and in August, planted out in October for the winter crop. The seedlings are planted out when they are 6in high and then need five months of growth. The first cut of the winter crop, in a good year, will be at the end of February. The glasshouses are frostprotected down to -2 degrees, but are not heated. Small, strong seedlings can withstand some frost.
The nursery saves its own seed from plant lines bred over many years for head size, colour, scent and conformation. The flowers have long stems, 13 of them to a plant, and the huge blooms, frilled like a crinoline while in bud, come in gorgeous colours – creams, deep pinks, lavender and purple. Customers often want to buy seed, but this is not available. The varieties are distinctive and beautiful, but are known by a code and their RHS colour-chart number.
Rosebie spends time on the business every day and is on site once a week. Sweet peas, she says, are a fascinating plant with huge character. They are a lot of work. In January each year, as they have for nine years now, the Polish team arrives and stays on site until the end of June. The team this year consists of Eliza, Magda, Kasia, Agneska, Monika and Marika. They work at speed and with great skill, twisting the growing plants round their strings, removing the tendrils to keep the plants straight, trundling up and down the rows of healthy plants on trolleys operated with a foot pedal. They cut stems when three flowers are open, condition them and pack them in specially designed boxes.
Greenlines Nursery is the sole supplier of sweet peas to Waitrose and also sells to the wholesale trade at New Covent Garden. Lovers of this quintessential English flower can buy freshly cut sweet peas online for nextday delivery in mainland UK. Readers of The Lady can claim a special offer of free delivery on any order until 31 May. Place your order at www.sweetpeasdirect.co.uk and enter the promotion code LADYOFFER at the checkout.
The British Museum’s new blockbuster, Life And Death In Pompeii And Herculaneum, should be on the must-see list of everyone who has an interest in gardens and garden history. The exhibition shows domestic life in two Roman cities at the moment that a volcanic eruption (in AD79) destroyed people’s lives while preserving their way of life in fascinating detail.
The hortus (garden) was at the heart of many Roman houses, a place for rest and relaxation, enhanced by fountains, statues, frescoes and pools, as well as for growing food. About a third of the houses in the two cities had a garden of some sort, and it is estimated that one fi fth of the excavated area of Pompeii was gardens and vineyards.
Garden exhibits include a carbonised wooden bench, wonderful sculptures, including a stag being attacked by hounds, and a portable barbecue. The finest are a series of frescoes from the garden room of the House of the Golden Bracelet in Pompeii, excavated in the 1960s. On the north wall was a painting, almost intact, of a verdant garden dense with plants and birds and topped by a brilliant blue sky. Sumptuous and unmissable.
At the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1, until 29 September: 020-7323 8181, www.britishmuseum.org
Fritillaria meleagris, the snake’s head fritillary, is an exquisite, bulbous herbaceous perennial with bell-shaped purple and pink fl owers for naturalising in grass. Plant bulbs in autumn or buy now in pots. Widely available.
The emails sped to and fro as appointments were made and postponed due to the unprecedentedly awful weather. ‘We are in an unimaginable situation in that we are now in April and have only about 20 stems of sweet peas to show you,’ said one email.
By the middle of the month, production was picking up and I travelled through the bleached and crushed–looking countryside for my visit. Greenlines Nursery consists of 1.5 acres of glasshouses on a tight site. Despite its compact size, it is the largest grower of sweet peas in the UK, producing nearly a million stems each season.
Rosebie and her husband bought the nursery two years ago. It was an established business supplying Waitrose, run as a one-man-band with a picking team. Gerry Strydom, a former professional cricketer from South Africa seeking a career change into horticulture, was an inspired appointment. He worked alongside the outgoing owner for a year, during which he acquired in-depth knowledge of a tricky plant. Sweet peas are a challenging crop, requiring a long growing period and plenty of sun and warmth.
The glasshouses contain row upon row of tall sweet-pea plants, grown as cordons up strings, like tomatoes. They are grown in rockwool, using a hydroponic system and at the height of the season are watered 15 times a day. The seeds are sown in two batches – in October, planted out in December for the spring crop, and in August, planted out in October for the winter crop. The seedlings are planted out when they are 6in high and then need five months of growth. The first cut of the winter crop, in a good year, will be at the end of February. The glasshouses are frostprotected down to -2 degrees, but are not heated. Small, strong seedlings can withstand some frost.
The nursery saves its own seed from plant lines bred over many years for head size, colour, scent and conformation. The flowers have long stems, 13 of them to a plant, and the huge blooms, frilled like a crinoline while in bud, come in gorgeous colours – creams, deep pinks, lavender and purple. Customers often want to buy seed, but this is not available. The varieties are distinctive and beautiful, but are known by a code and their RHS colour-chart number.
Rosebie spends time on the business every day and is on site once a week. Sweet peas, she says, are a fascinating plant with huge character. They are a lot of work. In January each year, as they have for nine years now, the Polish team arrives and stays on site until the end of June. The team this year consists of Eliza, Magda, Kasia, Agneska, Monika and Marika. They work at speed and with great skill, twisting the growing plants round their strings, removing the tendrils to keep the plants straight, trundling up and down the rows of healthy plants on trolleys operated with a foot pedal. They cut stems when three flowers are open, condition them and pack them in specially designed boxes.
Greenlines Nursery is the sole supplier of sweet peas to Waitrose and also sells to the wholesale trade at New Covent Garden. Lovers of this quintessential English flower can buy freshly cut sweet peas online for nextday delivery in mainland UK. Readers of The Lady can claim a special offer of free delivery on any order until 31 May. Place your order at www.sweetpeasdirect.co.uk and enter the promotion code LADYOFFER at the checkout.
Pompeii’s gardens
The British Museum’s new blockbuster, Life And Death In Pompeii And Herculaneum, should be on the must-see list of everyone who has an interest in gardens and garden history. The exhibition shows domestic life in two Roman cities at the moment that a volcanic eruption (in AD79) destroyed people’s lives while preserving their way of life in fascinating detail. The hortus (garden) was at the heart of many Roman houses, a place for rest and relaxation, enhanced by fountains, statues, frescoes and pools, as well as for growing food. About a third of the houses in the two cities had a garden of some sort, and it is estimated that one fi fth of the excavated area of Pompeii was gardens and vineyards.
Garden exhibits include a carbonised wooden bench, wonderful sculptures, including a stag being attacked by hounds, and a portable barbecue. The finest are a series of frescoes from the garden room of the House of the Golden Bracelet in Pompeii, excavated in the 1960s. On the north wall was a painting, almost intact, of a verdant garden dense with plants and birds and topped by a brilliant blue sky. Sumptuous and unmissable.
At the British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1, until 29 September: 020-7323 8181, www.britishmuseum.org
