Heathcliff Sweet Peas

Swarthy, brooding, mysterious and, yes, just a little bit dramatic, Heathcliff is a sweet pea you'll be tempted to grow in your borders. That deep royal purple-blue is a colour that works in every style of garden, while the long, strong stems make Heathcliff ideal for cutting and bringing indoors. The scent is powerful, almost overwhelming. Plus it has an Award of Garden Merit from the RHS, so like its namesake, it's sure to sweep you off your feet in its short life (without the part where it torments and destroys most of the people at Thrushcross Grange, we hope).

How to grow Heathcliff Sweet Peas

In the garden, you are best following a few simple rules with sweet peas. Give them sun, so south or west facing, plant in really good, rich soil, train the new growth into supports such as canes or an arbour, and don't let them dry out. Once your sweet peas are flowering, give them a high-potash feed every week or two, and they'll flower their socks off from June until September, or even beyond - as long as you remove any seeds that form and keep on cutting the flowers to bring indoors for vases. They really are brilliant value, in terms of sheer joy, ease and the weeks of colour and scent they bring.

Grow them alongside other sweet peas in contrasting colours - try a white one such as White Frills, or pretty pink and white Heaven Scent for a dreamy combination. A wigwam of sweet peas in the middle of a vegetable bed will help your runner beans get pollinated.

Features of Heathcliff Sweet Peas

Colour: deep blue-purple
Stem: long
Height: 1.8m
Type: Grandiflora
Scent: hugely scented
Flowering: June-September
RHS Award of Garden Merit

Did you know?

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights character has been played on stage and screen by, among others, Ralph Fiennes, Timothy Dalton, Laurence Olivier, Tom Hardy, James Howson and that famously rugged, intimidating actor, Cliff Richard...

Plant Heathcliff Sweet Peas in well prepared, moist soil that ideally has been improved with organic matter. 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 but produces fewer flowers.

The principal requirement is enough water and food - 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 into 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.

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Delivery: Our standard delivery charges are:

Small box (Orders containing only seedlings or rooted cuttings) £7.20 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Standard box (Bareroots up to 1.2m) £11.40 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Large box (Pots up to and incl. 7.5L) £15.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £100 inc VAT)
Trees & Hedging (Bareroots & trees 1.2m+) £18.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £120 inc VAT)
Pallets (Root balls, large pots, trees etc) £60.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £240 inc VAT)

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week in summer if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Misc	RHS AGM
Shade	Full Sun
Area	Coastal Areas, Frost Pockets, Scotland & The North
Soil	Good, Well Drained
Colour	Blue (Medium)
Type	Rootrained, Seedling
Also Good	Fragrant, Repeat Flowering
Flowering	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep

	Buy 2 or more seedling packs and save

SIZES	1	2-4	5+
Pack of 4	Available to order from early July - do come back then £7.25	Available to order from early July - do come back then£5.50	Available to order from early July - do come back then£5.32
	Prices include VAT(where applicable)

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