Sweet Pea Giant Spencer 'Princess Elizabeth' Cut Flower Seeds

Overview

Sweet Pea 'Princess Elizabeth' (Lathyrus odoratus) has lovely salmon pink petals on a cream background, there are 3 to 5 flowers per stem. The flowers are large, frilly and have a beautiful fragrance.

It makes an excellent cut flower and looks stunning as a single colour in a vase or the garden. It was developed in Bolton (1950) and is a reliable tried & tested variety.

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Seed qty (approx)	20
Sowing months	January, February, March, April, May, September, October, December
Site conditions	Sunny but well-drained, humus rich.
How to sow	Pre-soak the seed in warm water for 12 hours to help break down the seeds hard coat or nick the hard coating carefully with a knife. Sow seeds 1cm deep into root-trainers, cover and keep moist & keep at about 20°C. Germination should take 2-3 weeks and then reduce heat to 8-10°C. When seedlings have 4 true leaves 'pinch out' tops to encourage them to bush out and grow on. Harden off & plant out in April for autumn sown ones and May for spring sown (may need frost protection if very cold). Plant a sweet pea 20cm apart behind and to one side of support. As climbers they will need a framework to climb up either a bamboo wigwam or something more decorative like an obelisk and can be tied to it or just wound up it. Alternatively sow seed direct in March to May, but either soak seed for 12 hours before sowing or nick the hard coating carefully with a knife and sow 1.5cm deep, every 20cm apart.
Care	Keep tying in shoots to framework and keep cutting to encourage more new shoots & flowers. Top plants when they reach 2m and give them a feed with liquid fertiliser to encourage more shoots. By pick off the tendrils to ensure energy goes into shoots & flowers.
Flowers	Cut when first flower on stem is open and the next is just about to open, each flower will last only a few days, but other buds will then open and so the stem should have a vase life of 6-10 days. Early sowings will flower from April onwards, later sowings from late May onwards usually about 8-12 weeks from sowing depending on time of year.
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