Last Updated on December 21, 2023 by Suttons Horticultural Team
Greeting Sweet Peas!
One of the nation’s long-standing favourite flowers, Sweet Peas offer delicately frilled petals with exquisite scents and large-flowered varieties. Whether you place them in a decorative vase or in a hanging basket at your front door, you are guaranteed to be welcomed by beautiful colours and sweet aromas. Most gardeners find space for this classic garden favourite and spring to summer just wouldn’t seem right without them.
Without further ado, we are delighted to announce our exclusive range of Sweet Pea varieties for 2021. Our comprehensive range means you can choose from our traditional climbers, tumbling or tightly-knitting varieties along with other types to enhance any type of garden. There is no time like the present to create outstanding low hedges around a seating area or window or grow a variety in pots, tubs, and growbags on the patio. These flowers are so exceptional that we are thrilled to have provided Sweet Peas to the Royal Household since the reign of Queen Victoria.
You can secure your plants from our new and exclusive Suttons Sweet Pea Range, featured in our latest Suttons 2021 Catalogue.
Over the years the number of Sweet Pea species has increased with one of the most famous being the Spencer type. This provides a larger bloom with ruffled flowers and an impressive colourful appearance. But don’t be fooled, there a number of reasons why all Sweet Pea varieties have admirable qualities and are a much-loved addition to every home.
1. Pretty and Perfumed
A common addition to a beautiful bouquet, and a flower which has always been in fashion, Sweet Peas smother any space with stunning tones and sensational scents. This ranges from delicate sweet blooms to strong fragranced varieties. Select the long-stemmed plants to enjoy their scent in your home.
A great example is the Sweet Pea High Scent, which is one of the most beautifully scented sweet peas available!
2. Spectrum of Colour
Sweet Peas are available in almost every colour and often bi-colours, bar yellow. However, breeders are working hard to create a special yellow variety to fix this. Therefore, with all this choice it makes Sweet Peas the perfect fit for any occasion.
Check out these Night Sky Sweet Peas, with contrasting purples and bright whites.
3. Easy to Grow
A very rewarding flower, Sweet Peas are really easy to grow and if the soil is kept rich, they will need very little maintenance. A tip would be, during dry spells be sure to water regularly and feed fortnightly from mid-summer onwards as this will help those peas to flower for longer.
Our sophisticated Amethyst & Orchids Sweet Peas provide a wave of petals and exotic colours.
4. Ideal for Groundcover
The dwarf trailing type can be particularly prone to expand and spread its flower. This can fill an empty space with bright colours and luscious scents or go for a climber to be an addition to a lonely arch or patchy trellis.
Browse our Fragrant Tumblr plants, perfect for pots, tubs or even growbags.
5. Up to 160 Species
With this many species, some are climbers, and some are dwarfs. Whether you’re searching for bright colours, sweet scents or some structure to your garden, there will be a Sweet Pea for you. They fit great in any outdoor space from large gardens, to patios, to windowsill boxes or balconies.
Why not try our Cupani Sweet Peas, with maroon upper petals and violet ‘wings’.
6. Forever Flowering
If you keep picking the blooms, they will continue to flower! This way your house will keep that spectacular smell and your garden will retain such gorgeous colours. The key with Sweet Peas is to stop them from forming seed pods and pick the blooms every other day.
You will find that the Everlasting mix does just the trick!
7. The Perfect Gift
As much as these flowers can make a wonderful addition to your own home or garden, why not make it a special gift for a friend or relative. Let that person in on the top tip of regularly picking off blooms so their flowers live on and on.
Take a look at how beautiful these Distant Horizon Sweet Peas can look in a bouquet.
8. The Queen of the Annuals
Affectionately known as the ‘Queen of Annuals’, the Sweet Pea achieves this elegant title as it has enhanced our gardens for hundreds of years.
Elegance and style give our Prince of Orange Sweet Peas a title they deserve.
9. The Birth Flower of April
Spring is in full swing in the month of April and this is when Sweet Peas are at their peak. So it makes it sense that this superb flower graces lighter and warmer evenings as summer is soon on the horizon.
These Sublime Scent Sweet Peas are the perfect display inside when ready to cut, or outdoors as fabulous flowers.
10. The Sweet Pea is indeed a Pea
A member of the Leguminosae family, the sweet pea is unlike any other pea. The Greek name is Lathyrus Odoratus meaning literally fragrant pea.
As if the Sweet Pea varieties are not interesting and sweet enough, our traditional Noel Sutton Sweet Pea is an award-winning variety and a must-have addition to any garden or allotment.
Fancy growing some Sweet Peas? Read our November Newsletter for top tips on sowing Sweet Peas this month.
Now you know plenty of reasons and more to love Sweet Peas, see our full range here and make your garden glow!
