Sweet Luscious Sweet Peas – Confections on a Stick

The current craze for sweet peas might have started because of my blog, at least so I have been told, but the truth is, they are due for a resurgence with the slow flower movement. These are flowers one will never see at the supermarket or nursery due to their short life and special needs, but that shouldn’t stop you from raising your own at home.

If you want long, straight stems on your sweet pea flowers, don’t forget to remove the tendrils as they can entangle and deform stems. This stem one is nearly 14 inches tall an as thick as a knitting needle. If you want stems like this, read on, below. Most of my seeds this year came from the British dealer and well know grower Roger Parsons Sweet Peas.

Like many of you, I am smitten by the long-stemmed, ruffly Spencer strain or exhibition Sweet Peas – the fancy English sort like there here, which are not as commonly seen here in the US where grandiflora-types are more commonly grown. The Spencer strains are true exhibition types, bred for nearly a century for their long stems and large, ruffled blossoms. Like Dahlias, there are those hich are appropriate for exhibition and those which are not, which only means that they may not meet some of the standards required for exhibition, but most likey are exceptional cut and garden flowers. Who cares if the conformity or the symetry isnt just right? In the US, there are no sweet pea societies or shows (sad face here). And did I mention the scent? I adore it, but apparantly some dont, but that’s not unusual when it comes to sweet scents. So regardless of how one feels about the smell, sweet peas seem to be once again, hitting the sweet spot with many gardeners and floral designers – and July is sweet pea season for most of the northern hemisphere.

Sweet Pea ‘Burnished Bronze’

Cut flower sweet peas arrive for us, near the end of June in our central Massachusetts garden. The first few buds tease us in early June, but shock us by yellowing and fading before dropping off to the ground in threatening way leading one to believe that something has gone terribly wrong, but experience teaches us that this is simple a normal sweet pea reaction to the warm days and cold nights which June can present early in the month. Once temperatures settle near the end of the month, sweet pea stems extend and flowers emerge from mature bus faster than an over-eager smash mob who can’t wait to perform their well, rehearsed performance.

I had limited space this year –  raising only four rows of cordon-trained sweet peas, but I will share that I am preparing for a much larger lathyrus project next year when I plan to rock and roll with many, many more. (don’t ask why).

In full sun, ‘Burnished Bronze looks more like a merlot wine than promised, but this burgundy color is rich and deep, something many floral designers crave.

Many will say that it is the unique scent which attracts one to sweet peas – a complex profile of warm honey, and base notes of vanilla, dusted off with confectioners sugar with a hint cardamon. But for me, it’s their color palette which captivates my designer-mind. Sweet peas have a color palette which has few rivals in the floral world – a pure periwinkle blue so artificially natural that it rivals that of an sugar coated Easter peep (the purple ones). There are countless tints of flushy, blushy pinks as if lifted straight from the gooey palette of a John Singer Seargent portrait, but really, for me, it is the warm coral tones which are so beguiling and special in the floral kingdom – so mouth-wateringly warm and sweet that one can practically smell a watermelon Jolly Rancher candy.

‘Suzy Z’ is a newer variegated striped or ‘flake’ type, similar to antique varieties, but with a larger blossom.

Floral trends come and go slower than those of fashion and decor, and although Sweet Peas are shown in most every wedding magazine and floral design blog, they remain rare in nurseries and garden centers. If you have tried to raise some, I commend you but if you have experienced failure, don’t fret – sweet peas do require some skill beyond planting the large round seeds, and waiting for bouquets. Growable? Sure. But if one wants to grow them well – with long stems and large flowers – a few steps must first be taken.

Bamboo canes tied to a cross bar create the long cordod rows. Pea plants are pinched when transplanted, and only one sucker is selected to be allowed to be tied to each cane. If kept to a single stem, the floral stems and flowers can become very long, and the foliage will grow very large.

In the foreground,’Dark Passion’, one of the darkest sweet peas was left un-trimmed to show the difference in size. Sometimes, as a garden plant, this can make for a more impactful display, especially with the darker flowered varieties. Just behind ‘Dark Passion’, in the background, is ‘Windsor’, another nearly black variety.

The truth is, sweet peas, which were once the most common and popular cut and garden flower in the Victorian era, are best when grown in cooler climates. Winter in California will do, but if you live in the mid-west or in New England, one must pray for a cool summer – free from humidity and extreme heat. An early sowing will promise flowers in late June and early July, just as the hot and humid weather arrives, allowing for at least a few weeks of flowers, but if one is blessed enough to live in Canada or the Pacific Northwest, Sweet peas are best thought of as an early summer crop.

I grew my sweet peas on cordons this year, trying to keep most trained to a single stem (but not all).

As I hinted about earlier, sweet peas  are growable but one must be realistic. Sowing seeds directly in the ground, and allowing them to tangle away along branches and stakes will work, but only if one wants clouds of flowers, but blossoms will be smaller and stems will be crooked and shorter. Those long stems with large, ruffled petals will take skill, and thus, require more effort to grow well. Serious effort.

I was concerned that my color palette wouldn’t mix well, but I was surprised when I combined all of the violet and dark varieties. With coleus and very little green, this casual blend still fit within a palette range of violet to mauve.

‘Our Harry’, is one of my favorites, as I am a sucker for anything periwinkle blue.

My pea seed generally comes from England, from sources who raise stock for exhibitors (as not all ‘Spencer’ varieties are the same – compare the size of seed raised in California to seed raised in New Zealand or England). But there are some good US sources I am told (Renee’s Garden Sweet Peas) in particular is fine and trustworthy). Personally,  I am stuck on a few trusted UK sources  for other reason then my knowledge that they supply many of the exhibitors seeds in England. Order seed in early January  and if you have a greenhouse, sow in late January in long, deep pots. If you are starting indoors, wait until mid February.  Most expert growers now feel that soaking seed isn’t necessary, and this is the first year I skipped the overnight soak, and mostly all germinated just fine, but the ritual of soaking is somehow part of the experience, so it’s up to you whether you want to bother or not.

‘Dark Passion’, so deep and dark that it is almost black.

One of the most important steps in raising sweet pea seedlings is pinching or ‘stopping’ them when they have their second pair of leaves. This is a bit horrifying to do, as it will leave you with a rather pathetic little stem, often with one leaf, but if you skip this step, you will end up with a wirey, little stem with tiny foliage which when set in the garden, will sulk a bot longer than those which have been stimulated to fire off new, larger and more robust side stems.

‘Restormel’ is a lovely watermelon color.

I’ve allowed my Spencer sweet peas to ramble a bit more this year, as I really don’t exhibit them (I mean, where would I in the US?), but even with a few extra stems allowed, my flower stems are long.

At this time, a second essential step must be performed, and it’s another one which requires a strong heart and a fearless mind. Remove ALL shoots except one, which you will allow to mature. Sure, one will sneak in a second shoot or two at some point, but by allowing the plant to produce only one main stem, it allows the Spencer sweet pea to truly develop its unique characteristics which is why you are raising them in the first place – mainly, large, if not gigantic foliage, and eventually, long, strong flower stems and large, ruffled blossoms.

In the center, ‘Eclipse’ is a rich, bright mauve violet – it is one of the top ten exhibition varieties, and it has a very strong scent and long stems.

Stripes and Flakes were very popular 125 years ago, and it’s easy to see why.

When trained on cordons, the foliage on the single, selected sucker can get quite large, these leaves are larger than my hand.

I had to try a black and white hand tied bouquet. Sunday, we delivered these to some of our elder neighbors.

‘Jilly’, an award winning cream colored variety very popular on the show bench in England and popular with visitors to our garden. Tovah Martin visited on Sunday and said that she was so surprised that these were so ruffled – just like the photos in the catalogs. We wondered if the larger blooms allowed for more ruffling, while un-trimmed plants produced just more blooms?

But for cut flowers, trimming is essential throughout the season. A tidy row of well-manicured exhibition sweet peas is admirable, and one will be rewarded with stout and straight stems topped off with 3, 4 or even 5 large flouncy flowers is all steps are followed. The surprising one for many, is the often daily trimming of tendrils, which when presented on  ends of monstrous foliage  are indeed, monstrous themselves, often threatening to grab onto even ones neck if you don’t catch them in time.

‘Jilly’, is a nice creamy white too, with just a hint of yellow.

‘Suzy Z’ striping is variable, but every flower is nice.