The Sweet Pea
This is the time of year that many gardener's are daily gathering bunches of these delightfully fragrant flowers.
An old favourite and mainstay of british gardens for generations, this flower now comes in a huge array of varieties with large colourful blooms and glorious perfume but where did it originate?
Sicilian Cupani sweet pea
Earliest documentation suggests that the plant originates from Sicily in southern Italy and was sent to England in 1699 by a Sicilian Monk, Fransicus Cupani to a Dr. Robert Uvedale, a schoolmaster in Enfield.
Throughout the 18th Century, the original purple/maroon bicolour sported several mutations with even a pink/white being documented around 1730.
At this time, the flowers were produced two to a stem, with the stems being shorter and the flowers smaller than the hybrids we see today.
The 19th century saw the first grandiflora strain, bred by Henry Eckford in Shropshire.
These grew in a much wider variety of colours and with much larger flowers but still retaining the unmistakable perfume of the original.
The work of Henry Eckford gave rise to the whole range of 'Spencer' sweet peas, so named from an original sport grown on the Earl Spencer's estate at Althorp in 1899, the 'Countess Spencer'.
(The Andrew Cavendish Spencer Variety sweet pea, courtesy of Roger Parsons Sweet Peas)
From this date on, much work has gone into the breeding of sweet peas to create long stems for cutting with clusters of large blooms from the purest white through to the darkest velvety purple, bearing the names of well known people such as Norman Wisdom, Monty Don and Terry Wogan.
My grandmother grew sweet peas religiously every year for as long as I can remember and I always try to grow plenty to provide a constant supply for the house.
This year I obtained some seed from the 'Cupani' variety and it has not disappointed.
As expected it is smaller in flower size bearing only two blooms to each stem, with stem length being only about 15 - 20cm it is suitable for smaller arrangements.
The colour is an exquisite maroon/purple bicolour and packs a perfume punch far in excess of its stature.
For any sweet pea grower, the original 'Cupani' is a must, every single seed germinated without scarification or pre-soaking and the plants themselves grew vigorously without problem.
If you want to find out more about the sweet pea, a great site to visit is Roger Parsons Sweet Peas, where a more detailed history exists courtesy of the extensive research of Roger Parsons, well known among sweet pea growers as a Trustee and Membership Secretary of the National Sweet Pea Society.
He is a former Chairman of the NSPS/Royal Horticultural Society Joint Trials Committee. Roger’s particular interests include the history and development of the sweet pea, other Lathyrus species and the raising of new varieties.
He is available outside the growing season to give illustrated talks to all levels of interest.
Picture above from Roger's web site proudly displaying some of his beauties.
