‘Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme….’
Well I have rosemary, coriander and peas – is that close enough?
The main flower in my vase is the perennial sweet pea – Lathyrus latifolius. (I think it is this rather than Lathyrus grandiflorus, but I’m ready to stand corrected.)
vase of sweet peas
It almost wasn’t the main flower at all, as last year I tried to dig it up! It had had a couple of bad seasons, with not many flowers at all. It had also collapsed into a real mess as I didn’t tie it up well enough before the wind got to it. Its time had definitely come; I thought its prime position would be better with some lovely scented annual sweet peas.
Perennial sweet peas
Perennial sweet peas
Well I tried to pull it up and then I tried to dig it up! What a shock I got when I found something like a tree trunk under the ground. I suppose it had been there for about 20 years, but I had no idea what was going on under the soil. So it looks like it will be there for another 20 years at least. This year, of course, it is flowering its socks off! I have just picked nearly all the blooms in order to encourage more flowering – so what better time to create a vase.
Perennial sweet pea flower
I thought the vase looked good on its own, but the colour did need a bit of breaking up. I added some lovely feathery white coriander plants that had gone to flower . I grew these to use as herbs, but they were over before I blinked, even though I did stagger the seeding . What a pleasant surprise the flowers were though – they are so pretty and you get such a wonderful scent of coriander as you brush past. The vase really needed more of this, but the bees were enjoying them too much.
Coriander
Coriander
I then needed somewhere to place the vase and thought about in front of the rosemary bush to give it a lovely green backdrop.
I added some sprigs of rosemary to the vase to complete the arrangement.
The vase didn’t look good standing on the paving stones so, as luck would have it, I had a pink carrier bag of just the same colour. I finished things off with some white crinkly paper and there you have it.
vase of sweet peas
I wish now I had taken some photos without the white paper as I am not sure it adds anything, but as usual I was in a rush….
Thanks to Cathy for hosting this great meme.
Why not pop along to Rambling in the Garden to view some other entries for this week’s Vase on a Monday.
My Aberdeen Garden 
Annette, I adore your vase of perennial sweet peas. I have one plant given to me by a dear older relative years ago. It’s not done well this year and I don’t have nearly a tall enough trellis for it judging from yours, but I’m fond of it.
Thanks so much – they are doing well this year; it must be the warmer weather we have had. There is some in a garden near us where the plant is just allowed to tumble – it looks really good like that too. I read that they are good growing through trees and shrubs that have finished flowering by summer, so I was wondering about growing some through my lilac tree. I am not sure whether I can divide mine at all as it is so solid under the ground so might need to buy a new plant. I believe you can get white ones too.
I like using coriander in arrangements too. 🙂
It is so useful, isn’t it. I will certainly be growing it again – lots more next year. Do you manage to collect and grow the seeds?
Every year I wish I had tried collecting seeds but no, I buy new starts each spring. 🙂
Apart from the lack of perfume the pea looks beautiful. How amazing the root was so large underground.
Yes it is beautiful – such a shame it has no scent.
Coriander did the same here. I thought I’d let it get a bit bigger before using it and then, puff, flowers. I have resown and will know better this time. Great idea to use the flowers in a vase, now why didn’t I think of that.
Yes it doesn’t hang around long does it – you don’t get many pickings for all that sowing. I wonder if we should pinch the tops off to make it bush out and maybe delay the flowering?
Yep me, too with the “oops its flowering already” coriander, though fortunately I like the seeds, and it does look good in a vase. Very impressive perennial sweet pea too, I keep wondering about trying one, I might have to do some more research. Do they have the fragrance of the annual kind?
Unfortunately no fragrance at all! Pretty flowers though. I think a white one would look nice growing through a dark green shrub.
What a gorgeous colour they are, Annette! I planted some a couple of years back as I had toyed unsuccessfully with annual sweet peas. They hadn’t done brilliantly and this year were joined by my now very successful annuals only to romp away themselves – not so nice a colour as yours though, even though one was meant to be white (it isn’t). I grew a cut and come again coriander for Which? Gardening (Calypso?) which took about 4 cuttings before finally going to seed – worth looking out for? Thanks for joining in.
Thanks for info regarding coriander. Did you grow it inside or out? I think I got two cuttings from mine – will have a look on Which Gardening as haven’t used that before, but we have a subscription to Which Online.
Shame your sweet pea wasn’t white as I was hoping to try that one. Maybe it just got muddled. This must be a better year for sweet peas – typical.
I grew it inside in a pot but I think it could be ground outside too. I’ll try and remember to look it out and give you more details
Thanks
They make up for their lack of fragrance by having so many flowers. Your vase is so pretty.
Thanks Chloris – they haven’t lasted long, but there are plenty more coming.