by Elizabeth Shaheen
My childhood memories are filled with the joy of the sweet fragrance that pervaded my maternal grandparents’ home from vases of sweet peas, placed throughout the house from their garden.
Lathyrus odoratus, the much-loved sweet pea, revered for its delicate shapely form, its sumptuous fragrance and its graceful climbing habit, is the very epitome of the traditional cottage garden.
Open any seed catalogue and you will discover sweet peas in an astonishing range of colours, many with ruffled blooms, and even some perfumed enough to strike a chord as to why they begat the name “sweet peas”.
This Sicilian native’s rich ancestry can be traced back to the 17th century, when its opulently coloured but somewhat small flowers were imbued in a divine perfume.
These virtues ensured its survival after it was introduced into England in 1699.
To this, we owe our gratitude to a Sicilian monk, Franciscus Cupani, who sent seeds to Dr Robert Uvedale, a schoolmaster of Enfield, England.
Cupani was obviously convinced as to the plant’s worth, because Casper Commelin in Amsterdam was also a happy recipient.
Recent research has discredited the early writings that refer to Cupani’s seeds as being a pure white form possibly originating from Ceylon, confirming that the purple and deep blue bicolour, now known as “Cupani” or “Cupani Original”, is indeed the original wild species.
Throughout the 18th century, in an attempt to vary the original, colour mutations were achieved but made no difference to the flower’s small size and flimsy stems.
The first new variety was “Painted Lady” (c. 1730) a highly perfumed pink and white bicolour.
Henry Eckford (d.1906), a nurseryman of Scottish descent changed all this, by cross-breeding and developing the sweet pea. He transformed it from a diminutive, if powerfully scented flower, into the floral wonder of the latter years of Queen Victoria’s reign (1819-1901).
Eckford’s early successes and acknowledgment began while he was employed by the Earl of Radnor as head gardener, raising new cultivars of dahlias and pelargoniums. He then, in 1870, was employed by a Dr Sankey of Sandywell near Gloucester and in 1882, as a member of the Royal Horticultural Society, he was awarded a First Class Certificate (the highest achievement) for introducing the sweet pea cultivar “Bronze Prince”, the beginning of his association with the flower.
In 1888, living at Wem, a small market town in Shropshire, he established his development and trial fields for sweet peas and bred the grandiflora strain with larger flowers in a large array of colours, while holding on to the original, swooningly lovely scent.
By 1901, according to Graham Rice, (The Sweet Pea Book, Batsford 2002), he had introduced 115 cultivars, out of the total 264 in cultivation at that time. In recognition of his work, the Royal Horticultural Society presented him the society’s Victoria Medal.
When one of his finest varieties “Prima Donna” mutated on three separate occasions, his entitlement to fame became cast in stone.
In each instance, the design of the flower was significantly changed, producing unusually large, frilly flowers.
The most notable of these occurred in 1899 at Althorp, the county seat of the Earl Spencer and ancestral home of the late Princess Diana. This new variety was named “Countess Spencer”.
“Countess Spencer” was crossed back to Eckford and other vast range of grandifloras, giving rise to the variably scented “Spencer’ tribe which now has a phenomenal range of varieties, with new ones being unveiled each year.
Owing to the enormous popularity of this new Spencer strain, large stretches of California were given over to its seed production to meet the demand, and this in turn gave rise to the formation of the National Sweet Pea Society.
In 1911, Tom Jones of Ruabon secured his role in the sweet pea’s story, when he introduced the cordon system of culture. This technique continues to be employed to produce blooms of optimum quality.
To carry out this process, you must first cause a seedling to branch. This you do by allowing a seedling to develop two pairs of true leaves, then pinch out the seedling’s growing tip.
Once the seedling has produced the desired side shoots, then, retain one strong one from near the base of the plant and carefully remove all other growth.
Then train this lone shoot to grow as a single stem by diligently removing any subsequent side shoots.
In addition, remove all tendrils as they form and tie the plant in on to a cane as it ascends.
By following this cordon system, you will gain far fewer flower stems but will be equally rewarded in enhanced quality of blooms.
Quite frankly, I personally prefer a greater number of flowers rather than a few larger blooms.
Sweet peas are hungry plants and require a soil rich in organic matter and full sun.
Sow your seeds, now, in autumn at growing site or in tubes thus allowing their long tap root to develop.
When planting out, great care must be taken to ensure that the tap root is not damaged, as this will be greatly detrimental to the quality of the plant.
Soak the seeds overnight and sow immediately or place the seeds on moist kitchen paper, in a tray covered with cling film.
Viable seeds will swell in just a few days and sprout a tiny root. They can then be sown in pots or in situ.
Even if you do not intend to follow the cordon system, it is essential to pinch out the seedling’s growing tip once it has produced two true pairs of leaves, for branching is fundamental to the plant flowering, for the original shoot will often fail to bloom.
Unless growing the dwarf forms, you will need to train your plants up a wigwam or use host plants to support them.
By giving the plants a generous arena, you will be rewarded by a show-stopping performance.
You will also need easy accessibility to your plants for both the purpose of deadheading and the divine luxury of inhaling their sweet fragrance.
Lathyrus odoratus features in my book Exotic perennials & Annuals for Pots and Gardens in Bahrain.
Elizabeth Shaheen – GDN – 17 Dec, ’07