Flora Norton Sweet Pea Plants

• Variety: Flora Norton
• Type: Grandiflora
• Colour: Clear sky blue
• Scent: 5/5 (Parsons) – intense, sweet, and lingering
• Flowers: Small, open-faced Grandiflora. Translucent petals, lightly veined. 3–4 per stem
• Stems: Shorter than Spencers – suits posies and small arrangements
• Height: 2–2.4m (7–8ft) with support
• Flowering: Late spring to September with regular picking
• RHS AGM: Was recognised by the RHS (lapsed)
• Bred by: Morse, 1904
• Sold as: Jumbo plug plants, hand-sown by us
• Plant outdoors: After last frost
• Delivered: March to May by next-day courier

Flora Norton – A Century of Sky Blue

True blue is the rarest colour in sweet peas. Most varieties that call themselves blue lean heavily toward violet or lavender – beautiful, but not really blue. Flora Norton is the exception. The colour is a clear, honest sky blue, the kind you associate with a Cornish sea or a July afternoon, and it has been in cultivation since 1904. Over a hundred and twenty years later, it remains one of the most widely grown sweet peas in Britain, which tells you everything about the colour and the scent.

The flowers are Grandiflora – smaller than a Spencer, open-faced, and carried in clusters of three or four. The petals have a translucent quality, lightly veined, that gives each bloom the appearance of butterfly wings held up to the light. Stems are shorter than modern Spencer types, so Flora Norton suits a small jug or a bedside posy rather than a tall formal arrangement. But in terms of fragrance, nothing in the Spencer class can touch it. Specialist growers rate the scent at the very top of the scale – intense, sweet, and strong enough for a single stem to register across a room.

Heritage and Character

Flora Norton was introduced by Morse in 1904, the same decade that saw the first Spencer sweet peas emerge from Althorp. While Spencers went on to dominate the exhibition bench – bigger flowers, longer stems, more ruffles – Flora Norton quietly survived by doing what Spencers could not: producing masses of heavily scented, clear blue flowers on a vigorous, undemanding plant. Few pre-Spencer varieties are still in regular commercial cultivation. Flora Norton never left.

As a Grandiflora, it flowers along the length of the stem rather than just at the growing tips. This gives a fuller, more generous display than most Spencers, and it means the plant keeps producing even as it grows tall. In a good year, with regular cutting, Flora Norton will flower from late spring well into September. The plant itself is vigorous – easily reaching 2.4m (8ft) – and requires less fussing over than some of the exhibition Spencers.

Pairing Ideas

An all-heritage combination is hard to beat. Lord Nelson (deep navy Grandiflora) alongside Flora Norton gives you two shades of blue with extraordinary combined scent – a duet that pre-dates the First World War. Add Mrs Collier (primrose cream) for a third heritage voice and the palette turns painterly.

For a modern twist, pair Flora Norton with Albutt Blue, whose lavender-white picotee edges pick up the paler tones. In a cutting garden, the sky-blue flowers look wonderful alongside warm-toned dahlias – Bishop of Llandaff or David Howard would make a striking late-summer vase with Flora Norton providing the blue and the scent. For growing instructions, see our sweet pea growing guide.

Why Buy Your Sweet Pea Seedlings from Ashridge?

We have been growing sweet peas in Somerset since the early 2000s. The seed - which we collect - is hand-sown at two seeds per plug and the weaker seedling is removed. Every plant is then pinched out to encourage bushy growth and hardened off before dispatch. What you are buying are sturdy, garden-ready jumbo plug plants that have had the best possible start.

We send your sweet peas out by next-day courier between March and May, packed in purpose-designed recycled cardboard packaging. The moment they arrive, they are ready to go into the ground or a container. If anything is not right, we have real people on the phone in Somerset who will sort it out. We hold a Feefo Platinum Service Award and have been named a Which? Best Buy plant supplier — endorsements that came from our customers, not our marketing team.

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of sweet pea is Flora Norton?

A Grandiflora – the older, pre-Spencer type with smaller, open-faced flowers, shorter stems, and far more powerful scent. Grandifloras were the dominant sweet peas before the Spencer revolution of the early 1900s. Flora Norton is one of the few that never went out of fashion.

How scented is Flora Norton?

Exceptional – at the very top of the fragrance scale. A single stem will scent a small room, and a row in the garden is noticeable from several feet away. This is the Grandiflora advantage: scent was the original breeding priority, before flower size took over.

Can I save seed from Flora Norton?

Yes. As a Grandiflora, Flora Norton is an open-pollinated heritage variety and will usually come true from saved seed. Leave a few pods to ripen at the end of the season, collect when dry, and store somewhere cool and dark over winter.

Can I grow Flora Norton in a pot?

Yes, and its vigour means it handles containers better than most. Use a tall pot with at least 4 litres of compost per plant, water every day in warm weather, and feed with a high-potash liquid fertiliser once buds form. A single pot with a wigwam of canes will give you cut flowers all summer.

Do sweet peas come back every year?

No – they are annuals, growing, flowering, and dying in a single season. Fresh plants each spring is the way. The perennial sweet pea (a different species entirely) comes back reliably but carries no scent. For this year's varieties, browse our sweet pea collection.