Quick Facts
- Botanical Name: Lathyrus odoratus
- Classification: Spencer
- Petal Pattern: Flake
- Color Profile: Pink flake
- Fragrance: Lightly Scented
- Breeder: Dr. Keith Hammett
- Year Introduced: 2009
- Flowering Type: Summer
Overview
'Vaudeville' is a striking Spencer sweet pea featuring a dynamic pink flake pattern. Like all flaked varieties, its pigment is equally distributed on both the front and back of the petals, creating a beautiful speckled and striped contrast against a lighter ground color. As a summer-flowering type, it is a "long-day" variety that requires at least 12 hours of daylight to successfully initiate blooming.
Growth Habit
This variety is a tall, vigorous climbing vine that requires substantial vertical support. It produces classic simplex blooms, meaning it features the standard single back petal without doubling or duplexing.
Cultivation Notes
Because 'Vaudeville' relies on the long days of summer to trigger its flowering cycle (12 or more hours of daylight), it should be timed to bloom during the peak of summer rather than forced for early spring cuts. Like all Spencers, it will require regular harvesting and deadheading to prevent it from going to seed and halting production.
Historical Notes
'Vaudeville' was bred by Dr. Keith Hammett and introduced to the public in 2009. Based in New Zealand, Dr. Hammett is one of the most famous sweet pea breeders of our time and is celebrated for bringing innovative color combinations, shifting tones, and striking flake patterns to the modern Spencer class.
In the Garden
Grown for: Dynamic summer cut flowers and adding speckled, varying patterns to the garden. The flake pattern is known to have great variation between plants and even between individual flowers on the exact same spike, making every stem slightly unique.
Companion Planting: Pair with solid pale pink or crisp white sweet peas (such as 'White Supreme' or 'Jilly') to highlight the intricate flaked pattern, and use dark or silvery textural foliage in vase arrangements to make the pink pop.
