Noel Sutton Sweet Peas

This sweet pea is a real stunner, with its mid-lilac deeply scented flowers, gently ruffled at the edges of the petals, and held on long, sturdy stems. This means not only will they give you months of glorious colour out in the garden, but they're also brilliant for cutting and arranging in vases indoors. In fact, as with all sweet peas, the more flowers you cut, the more flowers you'll get. Leave them to set seed and the plant will slowly stop blooming. So keep snipping! It's an RHS AGM winner, too, so you're pretty much guaranteed a great-performing sweet pea. If lilac's not for you, just take a look at the rest of our range of sweet peas – there are plenty of other colour options. Grow Noel Sutton in a sunny spot in beds and borders, or in a pot, always with a good support system to scramble up. This could be a trellis, a wigwam of canes or hazel branches, or an obelisk, and tie in the shoots, to begin with, to help them get a firm hold and grow well. Other than this, sweet peas (especially seedlings) are really simple to grow, but do remember to keep them well watered - all sweet peas like a good well-irrigated root run or they can suffer from mildew. A good soak with a hose every couple of days in hot weather should do the trick.

A harmonious partnership

Plant Noel Sutton with a couple of other varieties of sweet pea for an even more fabulous show. Its purple flowers look particularly regal paired with ivory white Jilly, or try planting alongside pinky-blue Anniversary for a pairing of similarly dreamy shades. To dial up the scent to maximum, create a border of summer perfume, by planting your sweet pea seedlings with climbers such as honeysuckles or jasmines: just make sure there's a bench nearby so you can linger and enjoy the scent.

Features of Noel Sutton Sweet Peas

Colour: mid-lilac
Stem: long
Height: 1.8m
Type: Spencer
Scent: strong
Flowering: June to September
Planting Months: March-April
RHS Award of Garden Merit

50 years on…

Noel Sutton variety was introduced by Suttons Seeds in 1968, and it's been hugely popular ever since. It's one of the most reliably lilac-blue sweet peas.

Plant Noel Sutton Sweet Peas in well prepared, moist soil that ideally was enriched with organic matter the previous autumn (if you did not do it then, do it now!). Erect supports for the peas to climb up before planting. They can also be planted in pots of sufficient size - allow 6 litres per plant - and with an ideal planting medium of 50% compost, 40 %top soil and 10% well-rotted manure. General purpose compost will do however but produces fewer flowers.

The principal requirement is enough water - Sweet Peas are thirsty and hungry plants. They can cope with a little shade but flower better in full sun.

Space each plant about 30 cm apart and about 5 cm from its support. The hole should be deep enough to accommodate the longest root and the soil should come up to the level of the first side shoot. Use wire/netting/twine between the supports so that the Sweet Pea can climb naturally. You will still need to tie them in to the frame. They grow fast, so check every ten days or so.

Water well; the soil around sweet peas should never dry out. As the flowers develop pick them and then pick again, otherwise they start to form seedpods and will stop flowering altogether. Keep tying in and picking for as long as you can. Perfectionists will remove the curling tendrils which grip other stems and can result in flowers with wiggly stems and also will remove side shoots. see the website for more advice on training sweetpeas.

By all means apply a high potash and phosphate fertiliser during the growing season. (Sweet Peas actually fix nitrogen from the air into the soil so you don't need more of that.) Home-made comfrey liquid is perfect or Tomorite will do especially if you are on a sandy soil.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: Our standard delivery charges are:

Small box (Orders containing only seedlings or rooted cuttings) £7.20 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Standard box (Bareroots up to 1.2m) £11.40 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Large box (Pots up to and incl. 7.5L) £15.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £100 inc VAT)
Trees & Hedging (Bareroots & trees 1.2m+) £18.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £120 inc VAT)
Pallets (Root balls, large pots, trees etc) £60.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £240 inc VAT)

Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Misc	RHS AGM
Area	Coastal Areas, Frost Pockets, Scotland & The North
Colour	Lilac
Type	Rootrained, Seedling
Also Good	Fragrant, Repeat Flowering
Flowering	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep

	Buy 2 or more seedling packs and save

SIZES	1	2-5	6+
Pack of 4	Available to order from early July - do come back then £6.48	Available to order from early July - do come back then£5.04	Available to order from early July - do come back then£4.80
	Prices include VAT

Lathyrus odoratus Noel Sutton