The smell of success for top blooms
Fothergill’s published its top 10 best-selling sweet peas, with the three highest-ranked varieties rated 5/5 for perfume. More surprisingly, two of the top three are old favourites more than 275 years old. Heading the list, however, is the modern Hi Scent, a white, mauve-edged ‘New Zealander’, while in second place was the pink and white bicoloured Painted Lady, which dates from 1731. Read about Fothergill’s seaweed concentrate in 4L bottles. Also from Fothergill’s is the sweet pea Mayflower 400.
Third place is my favourite, Cupani, a maroon and violet bicolour, regarded as the ‘original’ sweet pea, having been first grown in Britain in 1699. The remaining places were (with scent ratings):
- 4th Spanish Dancer, a veined picotee in cream and pink 3/5
- 5th Arthur Hellyer, lavender 4/5
- 6th Blue Velvet, dark blue 3/5
- 7th Emilia Fox, a larger flowered Cupani-type 3/5
- 8th Percy Thrower, lavender 5/5
- 9th Mumsie, crimson 3/5
- 10th Pandemonium, red flake 4/5.
Best-selling sweet peas – Great scent
Technical manager and sweet pea expert Alison Mulvaney said: “We often hear that modern sweet peas have lost their scent, which is simply untrue. For example, Hi Scent is a relative newcomer, while we introduced Spanish Dancer, Emilia Fox, and Pandemonium in the 2010s.”
Fothergill’s wide range of sweet pea seeds is available from garden centres and other retailers, or online at www.mr-fothergills.co.uk. Read more about Fothergill’s RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year winner, and colourful flowers from seed for eight months of interest. Read more on growing sweet peas.
