Old Spice Sweet Pea is a heirloom mix of fragrant climbing flowers selected from varieties dating around 1900, offering the brilliance and scent that made sweet peas beloved in Victorian gardens. Growing 6 feet tall and blooming from spring through summer across hardiness zones 2 to 11, this cultivar thrives in full sun and reaches flowering in about 84 days from seed. What sets it apart from modern varieties is its exceptional heat resistance and the genuine fragrance that contemporary hybrids have largely lost, making it a serious choice for anyone who remembers or wants to experience authentic sweet pea perfection.
Full Sun
Moderate
2-11
72in H x 8in W
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Moderate
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Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds selected this mix from varieties spanning roughly a century of sweet pea breeding, capturing a range of brilliant color combinations in a single planting. These seeds sprout reliably in 14 to 21 days under cool conditions (55-65°F), and the plants frost-hardy enough to handle unexpected spring freezes yet robust enough to resist modern heat stress that often disappoints gardeners in warmer regions. Deer leave them alone, and bees find them irresistible, making them a living bridge between the flower gardens of the past and the pollinator-friendly gardens we're building today.
Old Spice Sweet Peas are grown primarily for their flowers, which bloom abundantly from spring into summer in cool climates and provide intense fragrance for cutting and arrangement. Gardeners plant them as climbing vines on trellises and arbors, where they create vertical gardens of color and scent, or allow them to ramble along fences and garden structures. The flowers are valued for bouquets and indoor arrangements where their fragrance fills a room, a quality that distinguishes them sharply from scentless modern varieties bred for color alone.
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Sow seeds in deep pots 4 to 6 weeks before your last spring frost, keeping soil at 55 to 65°F until germination. Once seedlings emerge and before their first true leaves unfold, move them to cold conditions outdoors to acclimate them. This cool-hardening step is essential for transplanting success.
Transplant out after the cold hardening period; the plants are frost hardy and can go out 3 to 4 weeks before your last spring frost. Space transplants 6 inches apart in prepared soil rich with compost and aged manure.
Direct sow outdoors 3 to 4 weeks before your last spring frost. Soak seeds overnight before planting to improve germination. Sow at a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in rich soil.
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“Old Spice is a curated blend of sweet pea varieties selected from specimens originating around 1900, a deliberate act of preservation by heirloom seed keepers who recognized that modern breeding had sacrificed fragrance and heat tolerance for novelty. Baker Creek's sourcing of these historic cultivars reflects a wider movement among heirloom collectors to rescue open-pollinated varieties from extinction, understanding that the sweet peas our great-grandparents grew embodied genetics and flavor we've nearly lost. The mix represents not a single stabilized variety but a living library of Victorian-era sweet pea genetics, chosen specifically because modern hybrids have moved away from the characteristics that originally made sweet peas essential cottage garden flowers.”