Sweet Peas Expert Garden Tips

Garden Tips To Grow Sweet Peas

Continuing our series profiling horticultural devotees whose gardens and lives are shaped by their love of one species of plants or planting stylc, we meet Caroline Ball, who cultivates an array of stunning sweet peas in her fragrant Oxfordshire garden

Sweet Peas Expert Garden Tips

PICK OF THE SWEET PEAS

Sweet Peas 'Black Knight'

Spencers that grow well together:

• 'Gwendoline' Scented pink variety with an Award of Garden Merit (AGM)
• 'Anniversary' Highly scented white with a pink picotee edge
• 'Windsor" Lightly scented maroon Old-fashioned varieties:
• 'Cupani' A highly scented maroon and violet bicolour that is the closest to the 'original' sweet pea
• 'Dorothy Eckford' Pure white and highly scented, with an AGM
• 'Unique' A blue flake on white that smells and looks wonderful

Species/other varieties:
• 'Pink Cupid' Highly scented compact pink and white bicolour with an AGM
• Lathyrus belinensis Annual climber with small yellow and orange flowers
• Lathyrus vernus Spring-flowering, low-growing hardy perennial. Common form has tiny purple flowers; pink and white form 'Alboroseus' is equally lovely

Sweet Peas expert

Caroline sits on the committee of the National Sweet Pea Society (NSPS) and has been editing its Annual since 2003. A self-taught gardener and keen exhibitor of sweet peas, she is fascinated by this delicate plant's history and possesses a growing collection of books on the subject as well as memorabilia.

Sweet Peas Expert Garden Tips

Have you always gardened?

Yes, since I was a girl, although I had no idea what 1 was doing. It was my mother who introduced me to gardening - she loved flowers and sweet peas, in particular, although she mainly grew the everlasting type. My sister and I each had our own patches to look after. I just dug flowers up from elsewhere in the garden and replanted them in my plot, especially if they were pretty. My sister was more adventurous and grew her plants from seed, but I had lots of success propagating primroses, which I still enjoy doing. The first plants
I grew from seed were small purple violas.

How do you grow sweet peas in your garden?

We recently bought a new garden with a house attached! This means I am currently experimenting with what to grow where: the space already has well -established structure that we really like, but it needs some TLC as it hasn't been tended properly for a while - so it is very much a work in progress. I have a separate area for my cordons and my rows of old-fashioneds, making a colourful path along the drive and between apple trees. I grow as many, if not more, elsewhere in the garden. We inherited established everlasting sweet

peas, growing as hedging and over two archways. I'm planning to turn one of the these into a walkway combining the sweet peas with clematis for earlier in the season.

That archway also has honeysuckle, which works well with the sweet peas; I prune it to keep it in check and maximise the flowers. We have a long mixed bed next to an old wall where I grow old-fashioned sweet peas up obelisks as focal points and to add colour pockets for at least three months of the year. We also inherited a huge formal pond that features white lilies and has lots of wildlife. To continue the formal look, I added four obelisks at the corners with more old-fashioned sweet peas climbing up them for height and to echo themes elsewhere in the English garden.

Which are the qualities of sweet peas that particularly appeal to you?

The scent of the flowers is the main draw for me, although I love the fact that many of them are useful climbers in the garden. I'm also ittracted by their very large range of colours and forms.

There seem to be several types of sweet pea - can you explain the differences?

Lathyrus odoratus is the botanical name of the annual sweet pea. There are many small-flowered old-fashioned sweet peas varieties, the oldest of which is the intensely perfumed 'Cupani' from 1699. In the early 20th century, larger, frillier and equally fragrant flowers were found growing at Althorp, home of the Spencer family, so were named 'Spencers'. There are also species Lathyrus, many of which are garden-worthy,
including the perennial Lathyrus latifolius, the so-called everlasting sweet pea.

Sweet Peas 'High Scent'

Do you recommend growing everlasting sweet peas and, if so, which varieties?

Yes I would, although sadly they do lack the fragrance of the annual sweet pea. They are very easy to grow and need little attention once established. The most beautiful is a white variety called 'White Pearl' and also
'Apple Blossom', which is a pretty pale pink. They are both less vigorous than the dark magenta form, which I also love and grow.

How do you prepare the ground for annual sweet peas?

I don't create a trench, but I do double dig, incorporating plenty of well-rotted manure. I maintain that you get out what you put in.

Do you grow them as cordons or tepees?

I grow Spencers as cordons, supported on wires along rows of bamboo canes. I only ever grow the old-fashioned varieties 'on the bush'. Aesthetically, I prefer metal obelisks to bamboo tepees but, when well
grown, sweet peas will cover any support.

Would you advise removing the tendrils and side shoots?

For quality and straight stems I remove both on cordons. For bush-grown sweet peas, I would take off most of the tendrils if I want straight stems, but this does mean that plants must be tied to their supports. When I am flower arranging rather than exhibiting, I like to leave some tendrils on because they add interest to the display. I also remove side shoots if bush-grown plants arc getting too big for their supports.

Can you grow sweet peas in pots?

Low-growing varieties, including the 'Cupid' range, are perfect for pots and old-fashioned varieties work well in large containers. I find they do best if I use a good multi-purpose compost and add slow-release fertiliser and water-retaining granules for reliable results.

When do you recommend sowing sweet pea seeds?

It depends where you live - autumn in the north of the UK, and January or February in the south. If you don't have the right conditions to overwinter the plants you can still grow them well from an April sowing - they will just flower a bit later.

Do you pinch out the growing tips on young plants?

Yes, always - it gives you a choice of leaders with cordons, and it will make bush-grown plants become fuller.

What is the best way to ensure that sweet peas keep flowering?

Pick, pick and pick again - give them away if necessary, but don't allow them to set seed - and keep watering them regularly for the best results.

Do you give plants a liquid feed?

Yes, in order to maintain flower quality, but well-prepared fertile soil is the main source of nutrients. I also liquid feed cordons as they start to take off.

Which pests and diseases affect them?

Watch out for greenfly - strong plants will have some resistance but 1 would advise using a regular soapy solution spray to keep them at bay. Pollen beetle can be a serious problem if you are breeding sweet peas, but not otherwise.

What, in your view, is the secret to growing sweet peas successfully?

I would always recommend getting named varieties from a specialist supplier, even if you only want a mixed bunch. If you are buying Spencers, make sure they are modern, named varieties. The RHS website rhs.org.uk lists varieties which have an Award of Gardening Merit (AGM) or exhibition awards and the NSPS website swcetpcas.org.uk lists suppliers.

WORDS BY STEPHANIE DONALDSON I PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICHARD BLOOM

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