David Tostevin Sweet Pea

A truly distinctive sweet pea, David Tostevin is the first variety to be officially classified as dappled by the National Sweet Pea Society. Its blooms are a smoky, silvery lavender, each one slightly different from the next, with soft mottling that gives the whole plant a sense of depth and movement. Some flowers lean pale and pearlescent, others bloom with a cooler, dusky violet tone. Upright stems, lightly scented, not a fully fixed cultivar, may produce blooms that resemble its parent cultivars Earl Grey and Nimbus.

Growing conditions:

• Lathyrus odoratus is an annual climbing flowering plant with an intense unique fragrance. 
• Sweet peas have been cultivated since the 17th century, they are grown up canes, with the new shoots being regularly pinched out to promote a bushy habit and higher flower yields. Tendrils twine around supporting structures to help the sweet pea climb to 2 m in height where suitable, sturdy support is available.
• The large seeds benefit from pre soaking or chipping with a sharp blade for faster, more uniform germination, which takes around 20 days. In cold climates, sweet peas are sown indoors for earlier blooms, in late winter, or 8 to 10 weeks before last frost, or in cold frames in autumn or spring.
• The young plants or plugs and additional seeds can be planted outside as soon as the soil can be worked. These hardy annuals tolerate temperatures of -4°C and often thrive on cold weather and light frosts, developing strong root systems.
• The vigorous sweet pea plants are fast growing, rapid climbers once established, putting on over a foot of growth per week with consistent watering.
• Sweet pea flowers appear in midsummer and bloom continuously for many weeks if regularly deadheaded or harvested for cut flowers, bunches, bouquets and floristry arrangements.
• To maximize the vase life of the cut and come again sweet pea flowers, pick the raceme stems early morning with only 1 to 2 blooms open, or at least 2 buds still closed at the tip.

*The seeds and plants of members of the genus Lathyrus are toxic if ingested in quantity.