If you are a seed catalog hoarder like I am, then you’ll certainly know the trouble that can be made during the long, dark days of January and February. It seems that every trip to the mail box brings at least one more glossy new temptation. I get so many catalogs that they usually make up at least a two foot stack on the end of my desk.

Sweet Pea ‘Erewhon’
Boy oh boy do those seed companies know how to tempt a flower lover! Romantic descriptions, gorgeous photos and the words “new this year” scrolled across in red. Every winter, my best laid plans get tossed out the window as I go hog wild with another round of new garden additions.

Sweet Pea ‘Windsor’
One way I try and hide this crazy cycle from myself and others (ahem..Chris) is by putting on trials. If I can say there is a trial underway then I have a perfectly good excuse for buying every single variety on the market of a certain family of plants.
Last summer I grew 66 different cockscombs, 20+ ornamental peppers and over three dozen different sweet peas. This aproach makes for CRAZY record keeping but really does transforms the sometimes dull toil of being a flower farmer into a much more exciting adventure.
Take the heirloom types for example, they come is some incredible color variations and their scent is off the charts but their stems are generally quite short, pretty thin and they just don’t make the cut if you’re growing for the professional floral trade.
Cupani, America and Painted Lady are all great examples of this group. While beautiful, they really make better garden plants than cut flowers for market.

Sweet Pea ‘Erewhon’
Here in the states it can be a bit tricky to track down the right types. If you’re a commercial grower you’ve likely tried the Mammoth and Winter Elegance mixes. Both of these are inexpensive, available through large seed brokers like Gloeckner and grow well enough. But if you really want to blow the socks off of yourself and everyone else, then a little more digging is in order.

Sweet Pea ‘Erewhon’
UPDATE: Â The Floret Shop is now loaded with lots of previously hard-to-find sweet pea seeds.
If you are in the UK, be sure to check out Owl Acre Sweet Peas. Mark Rowland, the owner, has done an incredible job both in the flower varieties he’s bred and made available and the information he provides on the site. He’s generously helped me along my journey many times and I totally adore doing business with him!
Before I was able to source my own seed, I relied upon Enchanting Sweet Peas in California. Their selection is great, their customer service remarkable and they are an all around great company!

Sweet Peas: ‘Erewhon’ and ‘Enchante’
There are three main blooming groups you’ll want to keep in mind when it comes to sweet peas. Group 1 are the winter types {Winter Elegance and Winter Sunshine ) which flower first, around 10 hours of daylight. These can be brought into flower by Christmas in warmer, southern parts of the country like Texas and California or in other toasty spots on the planet like S. Africa, Australia or Japan. Here in my cool northern garden (47th latitude) they only really get cranking in the unheated greenhouse by late April.

Sweet Peas: Eclipse, Enchante, Oban Bay
If you have a hoop house available and want to get an earlier jump on the season, then I HIGHLY recommend the Winter Sunshine Series.  Stem length is off the chart, there is beautiful range of colors and they are really quite vigorous for winter types. Navy, the dark purple variety will leave you weak in the knees.

Sweet Peas (left) Restormel and Valerie Harrod (right) armload of my favorites
Midseason grandiflora varieties (Mammoths and Spring Sunshine Series) will begin to flower around 12 hours of daylight and bloom roughly two weeks after the winter types here in my patch. Spring Sunshine Champagne is by far the most exquisite of the lot. A pale creamy blush, the exact shade every bride is wanting right now will leave your floral customers fighting each other for the last stems.

Sweet Peas: (front to back): Mollie Rilstone, Valerie Harrod, Restormel, Dynsaty, Windsor

Sweet Peas (left to right): Windsor, Valerie Harrod, Enchante, Dynasty, Erewhon, Oban Bay
Lastly are the Spencer varieties which start flowering between 13-15 daylight hours. While the latest to bloom, this group is by far the most popular worldwide.
The Spencer’s are heat tolerant, produce abundant long stems, come in a dizzying rainbow of colors and are probably are the easiest of all the groups to grow. With so many wonderful quantities, it’s no wonder they make up the majority of all exhibition sweet peas shown in England.

Sweet Peas: Restormel and Valerie Harrod
If you are growing your blooms outdoors, live in an area that has a short spring or just want to be wildly successful the first time out of the gate, then the Spencer’s are your ticket.
All varieties pictured in this post are Spencer’s.

Sweet Peas: Mollie Rilstone, Valerie Harrod, Restormel, Dynasty, Windsor
I’ve cultivated so many Spencer’s that it’s hard to keep them all straight but over the years I still find myself relying on 15 or so exceptional varieties to carry the crop through while I weave in new additions here and there.
This list is in no way meant to limit the possibilities. If you have a hankering for sweet peas, seriously, grow every dang variety that you can get your hands on or afford! But if you need some tried and true varieties, that have consistent bud set, vigorous plant grown, long stems, rich color and good fragrance then do consider giving this lot a go.
Floret Flower Farm’s favorite sweet peas:
Nimbus (my #1 favorite!)
Mollie Rilstone
Restormel
Windsor
Dynasty
Ethel Grace
Valerie Harrod
Happy Birthday
Eclipse
Oban Bay
Our Harry
Jilly
Anniversary
Gwendoline
White Supreme
New additions that show real promise:
Erewhon
Enchante

Sweet Peas (back row): Valerie Harrod, Oban Bay, Enchante, Our Harry (front row): Windsor, Dynasty, Mollie Rilstone, White Supreme, Nimbus, Dark Passion
Later this week we’ll dig into the nitty gritty growing tricks that will ensure a long stemmed, super healthy crop of flowers, the kind that will make you the talk of the town!
P.S. I’d love to know what your favorite sweet pea varieties are! Seed catalogs are flooding in and it’s just about time to start making some more trouble.
John Edgar on
I live in the north of England and used to grow a sweet pea called Sheila Macqueen, it was described in the catalogues as a sunproof salmon-pink on a cream ground but at times it did seem to be more noticeably orange, it could light up a room and was a very helpful colour with anything that wasn’t blue. It doesn’t seem to be openly on sale now, though I would imagine someone has kept it going as unlisted stock. For me it was a strong-growing variety and wouldn’t stop flowering. There doesn’t seem to be a sweet pea being grown now that could be said to be an improved form of it, that could be said to have replaced it. There was something short-lived about the colour, so perhaps it wouldn’t travel as a commercial cut flower. I was really looking at the dahlias, they are beautiful.