Sweet Peas

Posted in Gardening Tips on February 15 2011, by Plant Talk

Most of us love sweet peas. The problem is that they are outrageously expensive at the florist, quite expensive at the farmer’s markets and while they are not difficult to grow it is always a challenge to get the timing right so that they are blooming profusely before the heat of the summer knocks them back.

If we travel back in time and look at the history we may acquire a better understanding of the flower and be able to make informed decisions when we choose a cultivar to grow in our gardens.

There are species sweet peas that are fabulous but do not have the multitude of frilly flowers that modern cultivars possess. There are also ‘Old-fashioned Types’. These are the sweet peas that have been on record since 1800 but are generally dated back to the 1700’s.

You will recognize a few of these from seed catalogs – Lathyrus odoratus ‘Cupani’s Original’ and ‘Painted Lady’ are two. These sweet peas have a wonderful fragrance and while the flowers are a little smaller than subsequent introductions their persistence on the market is a testament to their success. They tend to flower on the early side for sweet peas and are reasonably heat tolerant.

In the 1880’s a British gardener named Henry Eckford transformed the sweet pea into one of the most sought after blooms in Britain. He produced what we know as the Grandifloras. These hybrids, as the name suggests, produced a much larger flower, came in a multitude of colors and had a wonderful fragrance. Many of these cultivars can still be found on the market such as ‘Jewel of Albion’, ‘Queen of the Night’, ‘Miss Willmott’ and ‘Perfume Delight’.

These flowers were used in the cut flower trade. Some of the varieties are heat tolerant but not all are. They are still worth growing for those of us with short springs; look for the ones labeled as heat tolerant such as the four listed above.  

1900 was another turning point in the history of the sweet pea. In the garden of the Earl Spencer a mutation of a well-known grandiflora ‘Prima Donna’ was found. The flowers were 25% larger than most grandifloras and they had wonderful ruffles in their standards (the upper petals). These sweet peas took the gardening world by storm. They are still immensely popular. A word of caution: they flower later so they are not a good selection for those with short springs.

Around the same time American seeds companies were working on their own hybrids. The Californian based Ferry Morse Seed Company and Atlee Burpee came up with a solution for areas with short springs and warm summers. They started producing varieties such as ‘Blanche Ferry’, ‘America’ and the dwarf ‘Cupid’. While they are not as showy as the Spencer types, many of them flower up to two weeks earlier. Later Ferry Morse came out with a Royal series. This series flowers slightly later but is more vigorous and has nice long stems making it an excellent option for cut flowers.

We now have day neutral varieties out on the market that do not require and increasing day length to flower so they tend to bloom earlier than most varieties. Two cultivars that are easy to find on the market are ‘Velvet Elegance’ and ‘Winter Elegance’.

Keith Hammett, British Breeder living in New Zealand, has come out with a series of sweet peas that are extraordinarily beautiful and focus on fragrance as well as size and color (the Spencer types are not always highly fragrant). His cultivars also tend to be fairly heat tolerant. ‘April in Paris’, ‘North Shore’ and ‘Blue Celeste’ are just three of his offerings.

Why discuss sweet peas in February when there is snow on the ground? Sweet peas should be planted in early spring – they can even handle a little frost. While it is much too early to get them started – they are generally started indoors in March or outside in April in this area – it is a good time to peruse your catalogs and make your choices.
To be continued on March 15th with planting tips.