Cupani
Grow this if scent is the whole point. Nothing bred since smells better, and small flowers on short stems is the price.
Cupani is where sweet peas begin. It was sent from Sicily by the monk Franciscus Cupani in 1699, and every sweet pea in every catalogue since is descended from it. The flowers are small, deep maroon on the upper petal with violet blue wings, carried two or three to a short stem, and the scent is so far ahead of most modern varieties that people who have only grown Spencers are genuinely surprised by it. If you have room for one sweet pea, this is a serious candidate.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Lathyrus odoratus
- Type
- Heirloom
- Category
- Old fashioned grandiflora
- Difficulty
- Easy, good first crop
- Hardiness
- Hardy, takes Irish frost
- In Ireland
- Cloche or fleece helps
- Germination
- 10 to 21 days at 12 to 18C
- Sowing depth
- 2cm
- Spacing
- 20cm apart, 30cm between rows
- Height
- 1.8m
- Position
- Full sun
- Containers
- Grows well in pots
- Sowing to flowering
- 14 to 20 weeks
- In flower
- June to September
Sowing and harvest calendar for Cupani
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy Cupani sweet pea seeds in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
Garden centres and mixed retailers
- Mr Middleton Irish Around twenty named varieties, the deepest range in Ireland Mail order arm of a long established Mary Street shop, carries the familiar named varieties the organic specialists skip. Visit Mr Middleton , Co. Dublin
- Johnstown Garden Centre Irish Over two hundred flower seed lines Third generation family business near Naas with the widest branded range, though popular varieties sell out by midsummer. Visit Johnstown Garden Centre , Co. Kildare
Why it suits Ireland
Old fashioned grandiflora types like Cupani are tougher than the big Spencers. The plants are a little smaller, the growth is wirier, and they stand up to wind and rain better, which matters more in an Irish August than seed catalogues from further south acknowledge.
They also start flowering earlier. Cupani from an October sowing will usually be in flower in the first half of June in a reasonable garden, a couple of weeks ahead of the large flowered varieties, which extends a season that our autumn will shorten at the far end anyway.
The scent argument is stronger here too. Sweet peas are a cool season plant and their scent carries best in still, damp, mild air, which is a fair description of an Irish summer evening. Plant Cupani where you walk past it, beside a back door or under a window, rather than at the end of the garden.
Growing notes
Sow in October for the strongest plants, or February and March under cover. Use root trainers or deep pots, sow about 2cm deep, and keep them cool rather than warm.
Pinch out the tip above the third or fourth pair of leaves. Cupani branches well from the base once pinched and makes a dense plant.
Plant out 20cm apart at the foot of a well anchored wigwam or netting, in ground with plenty of compost worked in. It reaches around 1.8m and is a little less vigorous than a Spencer, so it suits a wigwam in a border or a large deep container better than most.
Pick every two or three days without exception. This is a variety that will run to seed quickly if you look away for a week, and once pods form, flowering stops. Kept picked and watered, it will carry on into September.
Common questions
Is Cupani really more scented than modern sweet peas?
Yes, and the gap is not subtle. The large ruffled Spencer varieties that dominate seed racks were bred through the twentieth century for flower size, stem length and colour, and scent was lost along the way in many of them. Cupani was never bred for anything, so it keeps the scent the species had. A single jar of Cupani will perfume a room in a way that a dozen unscented Spencers will not.
Are the short stems a problem for cutting?
It depends what you want. Cupani carries two or three flowers on stems of roughly 10 to 15cm, so it is no good for a formal vase or for showing, and it is not a florist's flower. For a small jar on a kitchen table or a windowsill it is perfect, and the scent more than compensates. If you want long straight stems as well as scent, grow a scented Spencer alongside it rather than instead of it.
Can I save seed from Cupani?
Yes. It is an old open pollinated variety and comes true from saved seed, which is how it has survived for over three hundred years. The catch is that saving seed means letting pods ripen, and pods stop the plant flowering. The usual approach is to pick everything until early August, then let the last flush set pods on one or two plants, leave them until the pods are brown and papery, and shell them out to dry indoors.
Is Cupani the same as Matucana?
They are very close and there is a long running argument about whether they are actually distinct. Both are deep maroon and violet bicolours with outstanding scent. Matucana is generally described as having slightly larger flowers, and some growers report no reliable difference at all between seed sold under the two names. If you already grow one, you do not need the other.
More sweet peas to consider
Matucana
Heirloom / Old fashioned grandiflora
The other great scented bicolour. Choose it over Cupani for slightly larger flowers, but do not bother growing both.
Growing notes and stockistsPainted Lady
Heirloom / Old fashioned bicolour
The prettiest of the old heirlooms and a good scented alternative if the maroon of Cupani is too dark for your border.
Growing notes and stockistsGwendoline
AGMOpen pollinated / Spencer
The one to grow if you want long stems for a vase without giving up the smell, which most large flowered sweet peas ask you to do.
Growing notes and stockists