Owl's Acre Sweet Peas : Sweet Pea Firsts

OWL'S ACRE SWEET PEAS

Sweet Peas for Exhibition and Garden

Sweet Pea Firsts:

The sweet pea was first introduced into England over 300 years ago in 1699.
The first name for the sweet pea was Lathyrus distoplatyphyllus, hirsutus, mollis, magno et peramaeno flore, odoro given to it in 1696 by its discoverer, Franciscus Cupani, and subsequently adopted by The Dutch botanist Caspar Commelin.
The name "sweet pea" is believed to have first been used by the poet Keats (1795-1821).
Invincible Scarlet became the first sweet pea to receive official recognition from the RHS when it was awarded a First Class Certificate on July 11^th 1865.
The first German bred sweet pea to be released was 'Crown Princess of Prussia' from Haage und Schmidt of Erfurt in 1868/9.
In 1880 Messrs J. Carter & Co. published the first seed catalogue to contain a colour illustration of a sweet pea.
The first sweet pea variety released by Henry Eckford was 'Bronze Prince' which was distributed by William Bull of Chelsea. A good size flower of attractive colour, unfortunately it was not properly fixed, and so did not remain available.
The first American raised cultivar was 'Blanche Ferry' released in 1889.
The first book exclusively about sweet peas was "All About Sweet Peas" by the Rev W. T Hutchins. It was published in 1892 by W. Atlee Burpee & Co. of Philadelphia, and ran to 26 pages - several of which were illustrations.
The first french book devoted to sweet peas, entitled 'Les Pois de Senteur' was written by english seedsman G. D. Clark and published privately in 1907.
The first sweet pea exhibition to be held in Japan was held in Tokyo on May 31^st and June 1^st 1913 by the Imperial Horticultural Society of Japan.
The first Australian publication devoted to the sweet pea was The Australian Sweet Pea Annual 1918, produced by The Carnation and Sweet Pea Society of South Australia.
The first BBC program devoted exclusively to sweet peas was broadcast on 16^th October 1923.

If you entered the site on this page, please click to go to Home Page for access to many more pages of information and numerous photographs. Otherwise use navigation bar to left of screen.