The Many-Splendored Varieties of Sweet Peas

“Sweet peas and mignonette, despite their popularity, are quite as bohemian in their habits as the grosser annuals and ask not much more than to be dumped on the ground in the winter season.”

--Wm. S. Lyon

“Gardening in California,” 1904

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The little six-packs of sweet pea seedlings found at most nurseries can be a tad disappointing when they finally come into bloom. The flowers are often small and simple and come in only a couple of colors. They may have little scent, leaving one to wonder where the name “sweet pea” came from.

The better way to grow sweet peas is from seed. That way you know what variety you are getting and whether it is colorful or fragrant. Fragrant Garden Nursery is a new mail-order seed source in Oregon that specializes in sweet peas. The company offers 76 imported varieties, including many old-fashioned strains (there were more than 300 types available in the early 1900s, now mostly lost) and many English Spencer strains.

Owner Pat Sherman trialed about 120 kinds to come up with her favorites for the catalog, but in general she found that the old-fashioned varieties were consistently fragrant and that the Spencers had the most beautiful and complex flowers. They came in almost every color under the sun.

Why mention sweet peas during the dog days of August? While they may be planted in the spring in colder climates, here they do best planted in the fall months so they bloom in the cool winter months or in early spring, when flowers are prettier and last longer. If you are quick about it and plant before Labor Day, you may even have bouquets of sweet pea blooms for the December holidays (to amaze winter visitors from the East).

Fragrant Garden Nursery can send you a catalog for 50 cents. Write to them at P.O. Box 627, Canby, OR 97013. The company does not take orders by phone, but some of its seed is also available at Hortus Nursery in Pasadena, at Heard’s Country Gardens in Westminster (Mary Lou Heard has 60 kinds on hand) and at Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach.