Sweet Pea Seed Mix

This Sweet Pea seed mix brings together three stunning varieties: 'White Supreme', 'Alan Titchmarsh' and 'Villa Roma Scarlet'. Enjoy exquisitely scented, frilly bouquets of pure white, soft pink and scarlet red all summer long. Sweet peas are small vines that can be used everywhere, be it climbing up an old garden fence, romantically cascading down from hanging baskets or roaming free as a ground cover. They are easily grown from seed and will do well providing they get enough sunshine and good, moist soil in which to grow.

The sweet pea is an annual herbaceous plant of the Fabaceae family originating from south-eastern Italy and Sicily. The varieties in this collection form 1.80 m to 2 m (5.9 ft x 6.6 ft.) tall plants (with a spread of about 60 cm (2 ft.)) in the space of a few months. The quadrangular winged stems have stipules at their base, bear pairs of light-green leaflets and end in a terminal tendril. Flowering takes place from June to August. The papilionaceous flowers are quite large, grouped in axillary clusters of up to 6 pure white, soft pink or scarlet red blooms. The flowers are composed of 5 petals: a standard petal, 2 free wing petals, and 2 fused petals. They give off a delightful, sweet fragrance, which has a floral aroma with honeyed and musky notes. The fruit is a flat pod that splits at maturity, forcibly expelling its seeds away from the plant. It is essential to regularly remove wilted flowers, as seed production stunts flowering. Sweet peas root deeply in the ground to find water and nutrients.

Sweet peas are irreplaceable, their charming and old-fashioned flowers make quaint bouquets, look stunning in hanging baskets and will soon cover up an old garden wall or fence. They are beautiful in summer flower beds, where they will use neighbouring plants or shrubs as a support. They can also form colourful carpets when grown as ground cover. Sweet peas are a must-have in cottage gardens alongside peonies, hollyhocks, fox gloves, peach leaved bellflowers, and columbines. They also do well in fertile and well-watered soil in vegetable gardens, where they can be used as cut flowers.