Lathyrus odoratus Spencer Mix - - Sweet pea

'Spencer Mix' is a selection of up to 40 Spencer sweet pea varieties, chosen for their fragrance and abundant blooms. These twining and abundantly-flowering annuals are remarkably vigorous, covering their support in no time or creating a spectacular ground cover. They will look beautiful clambering up fences, or romantically cascading down from hanging baskets. Their flowers are gorgeous for cutting. Plants reach 1.80 m to 2.50 m high and flower from June-July to August-September. The large flowers are ruffled and fragrant.

‘Spencer Mix’ includes, amongst others, the following varieties: Air Warden (scarlet red), Andrea Robertson (deep purplish blue), Blackcurrant Mousse (purplish pink), Blue Danube (lilac pink), Bristol (light blue), Brook Hall (white), Charlie's Angel (pale blue), Evening Glow (cream with light coral pink hues), Firebrand (scarlet red), Flagship (dark purplish blue), Kelvedon Beauty (dark purplish pink), Mrs R. Bolton (bright pink), Nanette Newman (crimson magenta), Noel Sutton (medium blue), Pluto (dark purple), Red Ace (ruby red), Red Arrow (bright red), R.A.F., Rosy Frills (creamy pink), Perfume Red (coral red), Shirley Pink (pink), Southbourne (pearly pink), Swan Lake (white), White Frills (white) and Winston Churchill (dark red).

Lathyrus odoratus is an annual herbaceous plant of the Fabaceae family originating from south-eastern Italy and Sicily. It can reach 1.80 m to 2.50 m high and 30 cm wide in the space of a few months. Its square stems bear pairs of light-green leaflets and end in a terminal tendril. Flowering takes place from May to October depending on the variety. The pea-like flowers are grouped in axillary clusters. The flowers are composed of 5 petals: a standard, 2 free wing petals, and 2 fused petals. They give off a delightful fragrance, which has a sweet floral aroma with honeyed and musky notes. The fruit is a flat pod that splits at maturity, forcibly expelling its seeds away from the plant. It is essential to regularly remove faded flowers, as seed production stops flowering. Sweet peas root deeply in the ground to find water and nutrients.

Sweet peas are irreplaceable, their charming and old-fashioned flowers make charming bouquets, look stunning in hanging baskets and will soon cover up an old garden wall or fence. They are beautiful in summer flower beds, where they will use neighbouring plants or shrubs as a support. They can also form colourful carpets when grown as ground cover. Sweet peas are a must-have in cottage gardens alongside peonies, hollyhocks, fox gloves, peach-leaved bellflowers, and columbines. They also do well in the fertile and well-watered soil of the vegetable garden, where they can be grown for cut flowers.