Royal Family Mix Sweet Pea Seeds

Royal Family Mix Sweet Pea is a stunning collection of heirloom sweet pea seeds that will surely turn any garden space into a kaleidoscope of color and fragrance. We love sweet peas for their intense fragrance and usage as great cutting flowers. Grown on a trellis or left to grow wild in the garden, they will happily reseed and bring about years of beautiful blooms.

Planting by Zones

Zones 9-10

• Sweet Peas are a cool season crop in Zones 9 and 10. You can plant them in the fall through late spring. Sweet peas take a long time to bloom; we recommend you plant them October – November for the most spectacular early spring blooms.

Zones 2-8

• Direct sow in early spring when the threat of frost is gone and the soil can be worked.

Planting Sweet Sweet Pea Seeds

• In Zones 9 and 10 you can direct seed sweet peas in full sun or transplant out. We often begin in starter trays to protect plants from the heat and Santa Ana winds during our hot fall season. We transplant out into deeply irrigated soils under the protection of shade cloth.
• To direct sow, plant seeds in debris-free, well-worked soil that has been deeply watered. Cover with 1/2″ of finely sifted soil.
• If you are planting seeds in starter pots, plant seeds into thoroughly moist high-quality seed starting soil. Place seeds on the top of the soil and cover with 1/2″ of finely sifted soil.
• Once your seeds have germinated and are 1-2″ tall, fertilize with an organic liquid fertilizer. When the plants are 3-4″ tall you can plant them out into the garden.
• Space plants at least 6″ apart.

Growing Sweet Peas from Seed

• This plant is easy to grow once you get them established! They will need support such as a trellis to climb up as they grow.
• Mulching heavily around your plants will help with weed suppression and improve moisture retention.

Harvesting Sweet Peas Flowers

• Harvest flowers early in the morning and immediately place them into a vase of room temperature water. Blooms are extremely sweet-scented and will fill a room with their intoxicating fragrance.

Growing Sweet Peas in Containers

• Sweet peas are easy to grow in containers from seed. Make sure your container is at least 20″ deep and remember to provide support for plants to grow up. Keep in mind containers will dry out faster because they have more surface area and less soil to hold onto moisture. Mulch heavily on the top layer of soil in the pot to keep the soil from drying out or heating up too much.

Southern California Pro-tips

• Protecting plants from heat spells or hot weather is critical. Use shade cloth when necessary.
• Mulch heavily around your plants to ensure the soil does not dry out or heat up too much.
• Aphids can be an issue due to the heat when planting sweet peas in the fall. Watch your plants carefully and rinse off any aphids you see until the soil cools.

Companion Flowers/Crops

• We like to plant alyssum at the base of the sweet pea plants because it is low-growing and so cute!
• Do you LOVE sweet peas? Try all our varieties including: Finn River Sweet Pea, Heirloom Sweet Pea Mix, High Scent Sweet Pea, Knee High Sweet Pea Mix, Point Loma Sweet Pea, Royal Family Sweet Pea Mix, and SoCal Soiree Sweet Pea.

Additional Learning Resources

• New to starting crops, like our sweet peas, from seeds? Please watch our Seed Starting Presentation to learn the basics!
• Learn about growing all our crops on our YouTube page!
• Having pest issues? Check out in-depth information for pests that can be an issue to sweet peas at the UC Integrated Pest Management site.