Walk down any row of sweet peas at a flower show and you are looking at plants bred within living memory — frillier, larger, longer-stemmed with every decade. Then there is 'Painted Lady'. This carmine-and-white bicolour was already a named variety in 1737, before Captain Cook sailed, and gardeners have kept it going ever since for one reason above all: no modern sweet pea out-scents it.
This spotlight covers what makes Painted Lady special, where it came from, and how to grow it well — including the autumn sowing that suits old-fashioned types so beautifully. For the full method from seed packet to first flower, our complete sweet pea growing guide is the place to start; this page is about one remarkable variety.
- Type heirloom bicolour, recorded 1737 — the oldest named sweet pea still sold
- Scent exceptional — the benchmark all others are measured against
- Height around 1.8 m; needs netting, pea sticks or a wigwam
- Sow October–November under cover, or February–April
From a Sicilian monastery to your garden fence
The sweet pea's story begins in 1699, when the Sicilian monk Francis Cupani sent seeds of a small, intensely fragrant maroon-and-violet wildflower to England. Within a few decades, gardeners had noticed colour variants among the seedlings — and by 1737 a rose-and-white form was being listed under its own name: Painted Lady.
Nearly everything since has been change. Henry Eckford's Victorian grandifloras doubled the flower size; the frilly Spencer types that appeared in 1901 doubled it again and stretched the stems for the show bench. Painted Lady simply carried on being itself. Because it is a true heirloom — open-pollinated, not a hybrid — seed saved from it grows into the same plant its first admirers knew. If the difference between heirloom, F1 and open-pollinated seed is new territory, our seed types guide untangles it.
What makes Painted Lady worth growing
The flowers are smaller than a modern Spencer's and carried three or four to a stem — and then you lean in. The scent is a warm blend of orange blossom and honey with real carrying power: a single jam jar of stems perfumes a room, and on a still June evening a wigwam of it stops people on the pavement. In breeding for bigger, frillier blooms, much of that fragrance was traded away; the old grandiflora types kept it.
The colouring is a soft two-tone — carmine-rose upper petals over blush-white wings — that reads from a distance as a pink haze rather than a block of colour, which makes it an easy mixer in borders and bouquets alike. Plants are vigorous, reaching around 1.8 m, and notably tolerant of warm spells for a sweet pea, a trait its Sicilian ancestry is usually thanked for. We stock it as Painted Lady sweet pea seeds and as certified organic seed.
Sowing Painted Lady: why autumn suits an heirloom
Sweet peas are hardy annuals, and the old varieties respond especially well to an autumn start: sown in October, overwintered as sturdy young plants, they build the root system that fuels an early, months-long flowering the following summer. Spring sowing from February to April works too — you simply wait a few weeks longer for the first scent. Autumn sowing in practice:
- Sow in October or November, under cover Deep pots or root trainers suit the long tap root. One seed per module, 2 cm deep — no soaking needed, fresh seed germinates readily.
- Keep cool, not cosy A cold frame, unheated greenhouse or bright porch is ideal. Around 5–10 °C keeps growth slow and stocky; a warm windowsill makes weak, leggy plants.
- Pinch out at four leaves Nip the growing tip once seedlings have two pairs of leaves. Each plant answers with strong side shoots — and side shoots carry the flowers.
- Watch for mice Sweet pea seeds are a winter delicacy. Sow high on a shelf or under mesh until germinated.
- Plant out in March–April Into rich soil at the base of a support, 20 cm apart, after a week of hardening off. Flowers follow from late May in a good year.
Painted Lady shares this timetable with other hardy annuals — our autumn sowing guide lists what else can join it in the cold frame, and the flower sowing calendar maps the whole year. October's sowing window has its own collection: seeds to sow in October.
Old-fashioned or Spencer: which sweet pea are you?
Old-fashioned & grandiflora types
Bred for the nose. Painted Lady is the archetype.
- Smaller flowers, shorter stems — and far stronger scent
- Come true from saved seed, year after year
- Relaxed cottage-garden look; happier in heat
Spencer & modern types
Bred for the vase and the show bench.
- Large, frilly blooms on long, straight stems
- Wider colour range, from inky purples to apricots
- Lighter fragrance — beauty took priority
There is no wrong answer — many gardeners grow a row of each and let June settle the argument. Among the heritage types, Unwin's Striped brings flaked, hand-painted-looking blooms, while a modern Royal Family mix shows what the newer breeding does best: big flowers, long stems, an extended season.
Growing on: support, water, and ruthless picking
At 1.8 m, Painted Lady climbs with the best of them: give it twiggy pea sticks, netting or a hazel wigwam from planting day, and tie in the first 30 cm until the tendrils take over — our supports and trellising guide shows the options, and if climbers are your theme, there are more ideas in our climbing plants guide. Water deeply in dry spells, mulch the root run, and then do the one job that matters: pick. A sweet pea allowed to set seed decides its work is done; one picked every two or three days keeps flowering into September. Treat it as the cut flower it is — our cutting garden guide pairs it with the best vase companions.
Common mistakes
- Sowing warm. Heirloom sweet peas overwintered at 15 °C grow pale and floppy. Cool and bright wins every time.
- Skipping the pinch. Unpinched plants run up a single thin stem with a few flowers at the top.
- Expecting Spencer stems. Painted Lady's stems are shorter — cut deeper into the plant and use smaller vases.
- Letting pods form in June. Every ripe pod tells the plant to stop. Save seed in late summer, not midsummer.
- Feeding high nitrogen. Rich leafy growth comes at the cost of flowers; compost at planting plus an occasional potash feed is plenty.
Frequently asked questions
Is Painted Lady the oldest sweet pea?
It is the oldest named variety still in cultivation. Cupani's original 1699 introduction predates it, but Painted Lady, recorded by 1737, is the earliest distinct cultivar you can still buy and grow today.
Does Painted Lady come true from saved seed?
Yes. As an open-pollinated heirloom it breeds true, so pods left to ripen in late summer give you next year's crop for free — our seed saving guide shows how to dry and store them.
When should I sow for the earliest flowers?
October. Autumn-sown plants flower from late May or early June, several weeks ahead of a spring sowing, on bigger root systems that shrug off dry spells.
Why are the flowers smaller than my other sweet peas?
Because nothing about Painted Lady has been "improved" since the eighteenth century. Smaller blooms are the honest trade for the strongest scent in the genus — cut more stems and let the perfume do the talking.
Painted Lady has outlived every fashion in gardening since 1737, and it will outlive the current ones too — one saved pod at a time. Browse all Lathyrus odoratus varieties and our cut flower seeds, find more inspiration in the flower seed range, or explore the rest of our growing guides.
