Autumn-sown sweet peas have longer to grow so they produce stronger plants with more flowers. Lady Ursula Cholmeley of Easton Walled Gardens picks her best sweet peas to sow this autumn.
“We grow over 100 varieties of sweet peas every year at Easton Walled Gardens. The best sweet peas are those that are stable and don’t lose their best qualities over time. Carefully selected varieties, such as some of our heritage sweet peas, defy the genetic drive to return to the species type. For instance, the heavily scented Grandifloras, developed at the turn of the 20th century by Henry Eckford are still worth growing.
Working from his small nursery in Wem, Shropshire, Eckford dramatically improved the small range of sweet peas then available by breeding varieties with larger flowers and increasing the number of colours available. Although when compared to modern varieties most grandifloras now have relatively short stems, they do have wonderfully strong scent. Try the bright cerise ‘King Edward VII’ or deep blue ‘Lord Nelson’.
Other patriotic sweet peas and those with aristocratic connections are often good because growers save their best forms for these names. So for modern, larger flowered varieties try the colour-shifting mauve and blue ‘Duchy of Cambridge’, named in honour of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or the pale lavender flowered ‘Chatsworth’. Alternatively, an older but still reliable form is the deep red ‘Winston Churchill’.
If you are looking for unusual colours with prolific scented flowers, we love ‘Albutt Blue’ and ‘Duo Salmon’. There will never be a shortage of cut flowers or admiring looks when these two varieties are grown together.
Other unusual colours include ‘Almost Black’, with striking, darkest purple flowers. For the best sweet peas with bi-coloured blooms, look to pink and white ‘Painted Lady’, the classic magenta and purple flowers of ‘Cupani’, the original sweet pea discovered growing wild in Sicily that was the starting point for all breeding and ‘Spanish Dancer’, a combination of peach, cream and lavender.”
How do I autumn-sow sweet peas?
Autumn sowing is recommended except for gardeners in the far north and Scotland where winter light levels are not high enough. The benefit of autumn sowing is that plants are ready to go outside earlier. This gives a longer growing season and means that by the time they start to flower they have a stronger, established root system, resulting in better quality, longer-stemmed flowers. Here’s how to do it for the best sweet peas:
- Sow from mid to late October in free-draining coarse multi-purpose compost. Sow single seeds into Rootrainers, or sow 6-8 seeds i a 12.5cm pot. Seeds need only be planted about 5mm deep.
- Don’t soak or chip seed prior to sowing; this can damage the seed and isn’t necessary. Put the pots in a greenhouse or cold frame – they don’t need a propagator to germinate and actually excess heat can hinder germination and cause problems.
- Water after sowing, giving the pots a good soaking, but then leave them until shoots begin to show (usually around two weeks), or you’ll risk the seed rotting.
- Protect against mice and slugs and give the young seedlings as much light as possible. They can tolerate cold temperatures and even light frost, and are better for being grown ‘hard’. Move them out of the green house as much as possible on sunny winter days. Just make sure you give the plants a little extra protection if temperatures drop below -5°C.
- Don’t pinch out the tips of autumn sown sweet peas. They’ll be naturally bushy plants thanks to the cold conditions
- In the far north and Scotland or where temperatures often drop below -5°C, wait until 6-8 weeks before the last hard frost of spring to sow, using the same method, but pinching out the tips to encourage side shoots.
Where can I buy sweet pea seed?
Easton Walled Gardens: Find more than 75 unusual sweet pea varieties and mixes to grow from seed at their online shop. During Sweet Pea Week in early July the gardens open daily and feature more than 100 varieties of modern and heritage sweet peas.
Roger Parsons Sweet Peas: 01243 673770
Plants of Distinction: 01449 711005
Unwins: 0844 573 8400
For more information on how to sow sweet peas, click here.
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