Flowerable
Seasonal Blooms—5 min read—27 May 2026

Sweet Peas: Britain's Most Fragrant Summer Flower

Sweet peas are the flower that most reliably produces a response of pure pleasure. Here is everything you need to know about growing, cutting, and enjoying them.

Mixed sweet peas in soft pink, purple, and white climbing on garden supports

There is a moment in late June when a jar of sweet peas is placed on a windowsill and the kitchen fills with their scent, and something in the room becomes, for a moment, perfect. Sweet peas are the most quintessentially British of summer flowers, associated with country gardens, cutting patches, and the particular generosity of the English summer at its best.

Growing sweet peas

Sweet peas are traditionally sown in autumn (October to November) for the strongest plants, or in late winter (February to March) for a more convenient sowing time. They need something to climb: a wigwam of canes, a trellis, or hazel sticks. The critical rule for cutting is this: the more you cut, the more they flower. A sweet pea plant that is not regularly cut will set seed and stop producing. Cut every two to three days throughout the season.

The best varieties

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Old-fashioned sweet peas
The most fragrant varieties: grandiflora types with smaller flowers but intensely perfumed. Varieties like 'Matucana' (purple and maroon) and 'Painted Lady' (pink and white bicolour) are heirlooms with extraordinary scent.
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Spencer sweet peas
Larger, more ruffled flowers with longer stems. The dominant type in modern sweet pea growing. Good fragrance, excellent for cutting, wide colour range.
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Cupid sweet peas
Dwarf, bush-forming varieties that do not need climbing support. Useful for containers and hanging baskets, though generally less fragrant than taller types.

Cutting and vase care

Sweet pea care essentials

  • Cut in the early morning when stems are turgid from overnight moisture
  • Cut just as the lowest flower on the stem is beginning to open: this maximises vase life
  • Place immediately in deep, cool water: sweet peas wilt rapidly if not conditioned quickly
  • Change water daily: sweet peas are sensitive to bacterial build-up
  • Keep in a cool room: heat shortens their already brief vase life of 4 to 6 days
  • Remove any tendrils from the stem before placing in the vase: they consume water needed by the flowers

“A jar of sweet peas on a kitchen table in July is one of the greatest small pleasures available to anyone who gardens in Britain.”

Where to buy sweet peas

British-grown sweet peas are available from specialist growers, farm shops, and farmers' markets from June to August. They are rarely available from supermarkets in their fresh-cut form because their short vase life makes them commercially difficult. If your florist carries them, they are buying well: sweet peas require close proximity to the grower to arrive fresh. A florist selling sweet peas in July is sourcing properly.

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