How are sweet peas color coded?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

January 9, 2003

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The sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus Linnaeus) was introduced to England and the Netherlands in 1699 from a Franciscan monastery in Sicily. Sweet peas are thought native to North Africa possibly Tunisia. Their original introduction to Sicily is lost to history, perhaps they came with ships out of Carthage in Roman times.

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The original sweet pea had only two or three bluish-purple blossoms per inflorescence. But the flowers announced their presence with their fragrance. The plants were popular with gardeners; old gardening manuals recommended using hazel or other twiggy branches trimmed into 'forks' and inserted into the ground. They called them sweet pea hedges. Although the plants last only until temperatures climb above 75 degrees, the fragrance was worth the work.

According to Taylor's Encyclopedia of Gardening (1961), in the middle of the 1800s, Henry Eckford of Shropshire began selecting mutations of sweet peas and hybridizing them. By 1900, Eckford 'created' over 200 varieties. Seedsmen worked on developing additional colors, more flowers per inflorescence, and bigger, fancier flowers.

But by 1900, sweet peas were also losing the fragrance that made them popular in the first place. By the middle of the 1900s, sweet peas were known for their flowers, but not their fragrance. Over 3000 varieties of sweet peas have been listed; only about one-tenth of those are available.

Gardeners did not forget why sweet peas were grown. Seeds from fragrant varieties were saved and handed down to younger generations. The older varieties are used to breed fragrance back into the plants.

Taylor's mentions an interesting mutation that happened as various colors of flowers were developed. Usually, sweet pea seeds indicate what color the flowers will be. White flowers come from white seeds, cream from off-white, lavender from mottled, and reds from dark seeds.

Hans-Otto Tengrud has posted two great photographs of sweet peas. To view the photographs, click on the link:

http://www.arborea.se/latodo.htm

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