Cultivating Life | Growing Sweet Peas

In The Garden » Growing Sweet Peas

Although edible snap peas are what we usually think of when peas are mentioned, the pea family is vast with more than 12,000 species. Sweet peas, Lathyrus odoratus, are best-known for their flowers, not their inedible pods. Sweet peas were once intoxicatingly fragrant, but their perfume was bred out over the years in favor of long stems. Now, breeders are seeking the best of both worlds, recapturing the sweet pea’s unique aroma.

Susan Keating of Sweet Pea Gardens in Surry, Maine has been growing sweet peas for years to supply her florist shop and sell on the market. Valued for their wide range of colors including white, pink, red, blue, purple, bicolors, and striped varieties, not only are sweet peas impressive vines for the garden, but they make a stunning bouquet.

Although Susan enjoys the ideal growing environment for growing sweet peas in her coastal and cool Maine garden, she’s developed some tricks to hasten germination and produce well-branched plants. She soaks her seeds and applies inoculants before planting, then she pinches out the growing tip to encourage multiple side shoots. For gardeners in warmer climates, she recommends the heat-tolerant ‘April in Paris’, the Cuthbertson varieties, and the grandiflora types.

Some favorite sweet peas for fragrance:

‘Cupani’s Original’

‘Painted Lady’

‘April in Paris’

‘Blue Celeste’

‘North Shore’

‘Royal Wedding’

‘Mary Lou Heard’

‘Mrs. Collier’

Special thanks:

Susan Keating

Sweet Pea Gardens