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.

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-April
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.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: Our standard delivery charges are:

Small box (orders containing only seedlings or rooted cuttings) = £7.20 (inc VAT) per order.
Standard box (bareroot plants up to 1.2metres) = £11.40 (inc VAT) per order.
Large box (pots up to and including 7.5 litres) = £15.00 (inc VAT) per order.
Trees & hedging (bareroot plants and trees over 1.2 metres in height) = £19.80 (inc VAT) per order.
Orders delivered to Scotland and the Isle of Wight may incur a surcharge (calculated during checkout). This is applicable to ALL orders to these locations.
Pallets (for all orders of root balls, and large orders, a pallet price will be automatically applied at checkout) = £75.00 (inc VAT) per order.
If, for reasons of seasonality an order needs to be split, then we will charge for each delivery. If the whole order was eligible for free P&P then the second of the split orders will be delivered free of charge.

*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.

General Info	RHS AGM
Shade	Full Sun
Area	Coastal Areas, Frost Pockets, Scotland & The North
Soil	Good, Well Drained
Colour	White/Cream
Type	Rootrained, Seedling
Ornamental	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	Pre-order from February £7.25	Pre-order from February£5.88	Pre-order from February£5.50
	Prices include VAT(where applicable)

Jilly Sweet Pea Seedling Plants

Lathyrus odoratus Jilly

MAIDEN BAREROOT

BUSH BAREROOT

Jilly Sweet Peas

Features

Growing

Bareroot planting is best done between November and April
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Jilly Sweet Pea Seedling Plants

Lathyrus odoratus Jilly

MAIDEN BAREROOT

BUSH BAREROOT

Jilly Sweet Peas

Features

Growing

Bareroot planting is best done between November and April Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?

Strawberry Daiquiri

LATEST VIDEO

Sign up!

Bareroot planting is best done between November and April
Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?