A few weeks back I sowed my Sweet Peas, last year I went for soft white, lilac tones. This year I chose ’Bouquet Mixed’ which boasts lots of different colors and ‘Summer Sizzler’ with tones of red and pink these varieties should make for little explosions of scent and color in my little productive garden.
The Sweet Pea hit our shores in the 1600′s when Francis Cupani sent seeds of a wild type from Sicily to Dr. Uvedale a keen plants man and grammar school master from Enfield who grew it on.You can still grow this variety now sold as Sweet Pea ‘ Cupani’.
We have Henry Eckford, a Scottish born gardener and keen plant breeder, to thank for improving the few existing varieties back then. Dedicating over 30 years in the 1800′s to breeding Sweet Peas he achieved plants with bigger, more abundant flowers on longer stems with stronger scent.
The Sweet Pea didn’t get its frill until the early 1900′s. Silas Cole the Earl of Spencer’s head gardener discovered it whilst growing these lovely flowers, propagating and breeding varieties boasting this feature. This first frilled variety was called ‘Countess Spencer’.
Today we know of around 100 species and countless varieties!
As I mentioned earlier I grew Sweet Peas last year and I found it straight forward and easy. I didn’t soak mine and got great results, however I believe that you should soak them when the packet tells you to, often this is advisable with Heirloom varieties.
This year I sowed 2 -3 seeds in small paper pots filled with seed compost and placed them in a cold frame. I sowed two packets giving me more plants than I needed, I sold them at our small village market and raised enough money to cover the cost of my seeds. Last week I planted them out under small wigwams one on each side in the middle of my vegetable plot.
I can’t wait for those warm summer days when I will be tip toeing around my packet veg plot picking bunches of Sweet Peas.
What cut flowers will you be growing this year?
