'White Frills' Sweet Pea Seedling Plants

White Frills Sweet Peas

Sweet pea White Frills (Lathyrus odoratus) is one of the best pure white varieties you'll find, which makes it a must for the exhibitor, ordinary gardener and the flower arranger. Most varieties have touches of other colours in their blooms, but not White Frills. Check out our full range of sweet peas. White Frills is the go-to choice for anyone creating a white garden like the one at Sissinghurst.

White Frills may be plain white but plain it certainly isn't. Typical of its Spencer heritage, the flowers frilly at the edges, with the standard petal (uprights) having an almost pleated appearance while the wings (lower petals) are ruffled and rolled, appearing in small clusters throughout the summer. Bred in 2002, unlike a lot of other varieties, it is a strong grower.

If you cut flowers for the house, White Frills is the perfect sweet pea for everything from bridal bouquet to egg-cup arrangement with its pure white petals, strong perfume and apple green foliage. At the same time it is easy to grow - maybe a reason why it is so popular and successful. Keep picking for summer vases full of flowers. Give plants a high-potash feed every fortnight, and you'll get even more blooms. Don't let seed pods form, as that will make the plant's flowering mechanism stitch off.

Great in your garden

As a pure white flower with no distracting edging or bicolours, this is one of the most versatile sweet peas there is, whether you choose to use it in a traditional cottage garden-type setting, or something ultra-modern and architectural. The flowers will stand out in your borders, especially if they are backed by a dark evergreen hedge, where they will positively glow in the evening light. White will lighten up a dull spot, so if you grow your sweet peas in large containers with integral supports, when a gap appears, you have an instant solution. Even if it is in partial shade at ground level, if the plant's top growth is in full sun, it will succeed and keep on flowering. White Frills will also act as a great counterpoint to the darker varieties, especially Almost Black (dark maroon). As it is such a strong grower, it's an ideal variety for planting en masse to climb up a trellis on a sunny wall, or cover an eyesore like a garage.

Features

• Colour: Pure white
• Stem: Long
• Height: 2m
• Type: Spencer
• Scent: Highly scented
• Flowering: June-September
• Planting Months: March-June
• A favourite with exhibitors
• Popular with flower arrangers
• Strong growth

Did you know...

In the language of flowers, sweet peas are said to symbolise bliss or delicate pleasure.

Plant White Frills 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.