Borrow This Book: Plant in February with ‘Sweet Pea School’

By Jennifer Lu’Becke

Have you ever smelled a sweet pea? It is a scent one doesn’t forget!

Sweet peas, with their beautiful ruffles and intoxicating scent, are a must-grow in my garden every year.

Author and flower farmer Marryn Mathis of Stanwood, Washington is known as the “Queen of Sweet Peas” by her flower growing peers and fans. Her book “Sweet Pea School: Growing and Arranging the Garden’s Most Romantic Blooms” was inspired by her popular workshops.

Published in 2025, “Sweet Pea School” is available for checkout at the North Olympic Library System (NOLS). It reads like a love letter to all things sweet pea! It is full of beautiful photography from beginning to end. This book covers the history and types of sweet peas, how to grow them and how to create beautiful floral arrangements with sweet peas.

Sweet peas bloom in most colors, except for yellow. In her book, Mathis shares her favorite varieties in a helpful reference guide organized by color. You can explore her recommendations in red, orange, peach, cream/white, blush, pink, blue, purple and flakes. A gorgeous and very sought-after sweet pea named “King’s Ransom” is a color shifter and one I will always grow. “Shell Pink” is the sweet pea I’m most excited to grow this year. It is a new sweet pea variety introduced at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show in 2025.

Not all sweet peas have long stems, but if the right variety is grown, sweet peas make wonderful cut flowers for bouquets. Flip through the pages of “Sweet Pea School” for floral arrangement inspiration. Sweet peas are “cut and come again flowers,” meaning that the more you cut them, the more flowers they will produce. In fact, if you don’t cut them, they will go to seed.

Which brings me to the topic of seed saving. It is very satisfying to save sweet peas since they are self-pollinating. This means that new blooms will come back just like the original seed that was planted. Mathis states, “Saving your seeds is a great cost-effective way of giving yourself a head start on next year’s garden.” Turn to chapter six of “Sweet Pea School” to learn how.

Sweet peas enjoy growing in cool weather. They will stop growing if it gets too hot for them. In our area, they can be sown in the fall or spring. Valentine’s Day is a popular time to sow sweet peas seeds, and an easy date to remember for this romantic bloom. Follow Mathis’s how-to instructions and start sowing.

February is also a great month to start other seeds indoors under a grow light or in a greenhouse. Here are other recommended flower growing books available for checkout at NOLS:

• “Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms” by Erin Benzakein

• “Life with Flowers: Inspiration and Lessons from the Garden” by Frances Palmer

• “The Cut Flower Handbook: Select, Plant, Grow, and Harvest Gorgeous Blooms” by Lisa Mason Ziegler

“Sweet Pea School” is available for checkout at NOLS.org.

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Jennifer Lu’Becke is a librarian with the North Olympic Library System.