Roger Parsons Sweet Peas

04/09/2024

Sorry we’ve been a bit quiet for a few weeks. We have now officially finished the 2024 seed harvest and inventory has been updated on our website.

New season seed include some fantastic varieties such as Blue Shift, John Gray, Gilly Norah, Almost Black, Scarlet Flake plus many many more!

We have limited availability of King’s Ransom, MM and Blue Vein. Please email for price and quantity.

Happy sowing for the upcoming season!

27/08/2024

There is currently a problem with gaining access to our website. We are sorry for the inconvenience and will try it get it rectified in the morning.

05/08/2024

Our 2024-25 catalogue is hot off the press and making its way to our UK customers. This year the front cover features Ruby holding her Sweet Pea Ruby’s Gown, a 2024 novelty.

Another novelty to note is our limited edition ‘Seamist Mixture’ in celebration of our 20 years in retail. The mixture includes a balanced colour combination of blues, lavenders, whites and creams in all flower forms.

Our catalogue is automatically sent to all UK customers who have purchased from us in the last 2 years. Unfortunately it is not possible to send a hard copy to our international customers but we can email a copy if you would like to see it. Please request by emailing [email protected]

30/06/2024

Had a visit recently from Milli Proust and Paris Alma of Alma Proust. There is an illustrated blog of the visit at

By mid-June, the garden has become a midsummer tangle; it's all sweet pea tendrils and rose petals here. The sweet peas grow daily, stretching and weaving their way up the netting and sticks we put up for them many months ago, and then we start to pick... Nothing is sweeter than a handful, armful, b

25/06/2024

☀️ Sweet Peas in the heat! ☀️
The UK is experiencing some warm temperatures this week so here are a few tips to help your Sweet Peas cope…

* Shade your plants during the hottest part of the day. If outdoors, the best solution is to plan in advance where to grow your peas. Pick a spot to ensure they have shade from a tree or other object. If no shade is available a large portable outdoor umbrella or similar would suffice.

* keep air moving, ventilation is key so open up your poly tunnel or greenhouse as much as possible. It is possible to use a fan to move air if it is very still.

* water in the morning to try to keep roots as cool as possible

* potentially increase your watering to twice a day (morning and evening) Sweet Peas are prolific drinkers!

* Dampen down surrounding soil to try to increase humidity. This will reduce the chance of your plants contracting powdery mildew which thrives in hot, dry conditions

28/05/2024

Another very happy customer, this time from Shanghai. Reporting stem lengths of 60-70cm!
Shang Hai Lan Flora Horticulture Co LTD is the premier company for cut flowers with blue sweet peas being their best sellers 3 years running.

15/05/2024

We love it when customers send us photos of their flowers. These stunners were expertly produced by in the USA. Thank you for sharing.

14/05/2024

𝗕𝘂𝗱-𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽 …is when the young flower buds stop developing, turn paler, frequently turn upright and finally fall off the flower stem to leave a bare stalk.

Although the exact cause is not known, the condition is associated in the West with low temperatures following a period of hot weather. It is also associated with wide variation in day and night temperatures. The experience of Japanese growers is quite different. They crop in Winter, maintaining a fairly constant temperature of 5c to 15c so they associate the onset with a period of cloudy weather following a period of sunny weather.

Some research has been done on the causes. The actual mechanism for bud-drop arises from the production of ethylene in a layer of cells at the base of the bud. The Japanese think (but are no more certain than we are) that the lower light levels in cloudy conditions reduce photosynthetic activity so there is less production of “photosynthetic products” in the plant to be distributed to the developing raceme.

So, we have competing approaches to explaining the causes of bud-drop: chemical and temperature. The intriguing thing is discovering that the direct cause of bud-drop, ethylene production, arises from a change in the plant’s internal chemistry. Reduced photosynthesis following a change in light levels would also affect the plant’s internal chemistry. On the other hand, a steep fall in temperature would directly affect the rate of metabolism so could also have an impact.
We know two other things about Bud-drop. One is that it affects some varieties more than others. If we ask how this could happen, a chemical explanation would be most likely. The other thing we know is that plants grown in raised beds, growbags or pots appear less vulnerable. I have always put this down to having a warmer root system so fitting in with the temperature explanation.
The practical impact of all this? If the chemical explanation from Japan is correct, feeding with manganese and boron could be a way of preventing bud-drop. Even if the chemical explanation is not correct, or both explanations have a role to play, feeding might be worth trying.

07/05/2024

Short on space? A beautiful and striking semi-dwarf variety well worth considering is Marie’s Melody. It grows to around 4ft so is perfect for containers, hanging baskets and garden decoration. It has an abundance of carmine striped flowers on white ground with excellent scent.

https://www.rpsweetpeas.com/product/maries-melody/

23/04/2024

Interesting colours! This has come up in our breeding program and is showing a very interesting colour combination of dark purple with maroon edge and white in the centre. Do you like it? Possibly a ‘marmite’ variety?…it’s certainly unique and will be interesting to see how it develops through the season.

27/03/2024

Buds!….the first buds of the season are forming. These are from the Sunshine series. I wonder which will be first to show colour?

21/03/2024

I’m very pleased with how my plants are looking. Emerald green and starting to climb. Exciting times ahead.

21/02/2024

Mother's Day is fast approaching in the UK. So, for an original and creative Mother’s Day gift, we offer five or ten packets of different varieties of Sweet Pea seeds with growing instructions in a presentation envelope. Text can be personalised up to 10 words and you can choose your own varieties or we can pick 5 popular and complementing varieties on your behalf.

https://www.rpsweetpeas.com/product/mothers-day-gift-pack/

15/02/2024

When to Plant Outside – we’re getting quite a few question on this subject and there is no simple answer. Everyone’s garden is different so the answer varies according to where in the UK you are based, how exposed your site is to cold winds and your altitude. Growers in other countries should adapt this guidance to local circumstances. A further point is that some gardens may be located in what is known as a frost pocket, meaning soil and air temperatures are lower than gardens in close proximity. Let us consider the options.

The first thing we can do is to quickly explain easy options. If you are a cut flower grower who is planting into a greenhouse or polytunnel, you can plant out whenever you wish. For the UK, if you have sown later than the end of February, then your plants can be planted out as soon as they are large enough to handle. The earlier they can be planted out, the longer the period of vegetative growth before they start to flower. This helps provide stronger growth and longer flower stems.

For those living in the southern half of the UK who have sown in the Autumn, plants can go out as soon as ground conditions are suitable. By this, we mean when the ground is not waterlogged and can be worked with a garden rake. This may be in late February in the far south of England but any time in March is more usual. This assumes that your plants have been grown slow and cold so that they are frost-hardy. Even then, if the ground is exposed to north or east winds, it is best to put some temporary windbreak shelter around the plants until mid-April. Those further north who have sown in January or February may find their plants are not ready to plant out before April so the later start should overcome the greater risk of hard frosts or strong winds in March.

In occasional years, the situation may arise when an exceptionally wet Spring means the soil never does become workable at the time your plants are ready to go out. One way around this is to excavate a planting hole using a trowel but backfill with multi-purpose compost so that it can integrate with the root system. It may be necessary to do this while standing on a wooden plank in order to avoid over-compacting the soil to the extent that rainwater cannot percolate down.

It really is a question of knowing your own ground and of producing plants over the winter which are short and sturdy, not elongated and thin. Frost down to minus 6 Celsius will not harm such plants but strong winds can be damaging, especially from a northerly or easterly direction. If you are caught out by late very hard frosts or exceptional winds (remember the Beast from the East?), all may not be lost. Even if the tops of your plants are hit and turn yellow, then brown, a good root system should enable them to shoot again from the base.

12/02/2024

A bright, sunny day in West Sussex and planting out the seedlings is well underway.

25/01/2024

*NEW* varieties just in and available from our website now…

Blue Danube - mid blue Spencer type
Midnight - dark maroon Spencer type
Prince of Orange - orange Spencer type
Castle of Mey - cream Spencer type
Zorija Rose - deep rose pink Grandiflora type

Candyfloss also back in stock (soft orange pink)

www.rpsweetpeas.com

16/01/2024

Hurrah, the frosts have finally arrived here is West Sussex! We are always pleased to have our plants exposed to some very cold weather. They look like it’s detrimental but don’t be alarmed, it’s actually very good for them. The key is to defrost them gently so they don’t get frost damage. This cold weather will stop them getting leggy and make them strong adult plants. They will recover and pop back up in no time.

08/01/2024

Apologies to anyone who tried to order seeds yesterday. It appears there was a problem with our website. It is now fixed and up and running again. Sorry for any inconvenience.

04/01/2024

What is meant by the term ‘leggy’ in Sweet Peas

Often you hear of Sweet Pea seedling being described as leggy. This means that they have become elongated and grown stringy with large gaps between each pairs of leaves. This can been seen on the picture to the right. If Sweet Peas are grown well, they should stay compact and stocky as shown in the picture to the left.

In our experience there are two reasons for seedlings to become leggy. They are either reaching for the light (for example being grown in a garage or shed) or they are grown in too warm a climate and advance to quickly. 10C (50F) is the optimum temperature for germinating Sweet Pea seeds however, make sure you move them to a cold greenhouse as soon as the young shoots break the surface of the compost. Cold will stop them growing too fast and if grown hard enough they are frost hardy down to around -5C

02/11/2023

I am sorry to have to report our office will be closed today, Thursday 2nd November, due to holidays and sickness. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience. Roger.