Bramdean Sweet Pea Plants
- Variety: Bramdean
- Type: Grandiflora
- Colour: Opens pure white, develops a gentle pink blush
- Scent: 5/5 (English Sweet Peas) – exceptionally strong
- Flowers: Larger than true Grandifloras. 3–4 per stem
- Stems: Around 20cm – good for cutting
- Height: 1.8m (6ft) with support
- Flowering: Late June to September with regular picking
- RHS AGM: Yes
- Show class: Old-Fashioned (NSPS)
- Bred by: Victoria Wakefield, Bramdean House, Hampshire
- Sold as: Jumbo plug plants, hand-sown by us
- Plant outdoors: After last frost
- Delivered: March to May by next-day courier. Collection from Castle Cary also available
Bramdean – A Poet's Garden in a Single Stem
Bramdean opens pure white and then, over a day or two, develops the gentlest pink blush. The effect is almost imperceptible at first; you have to look twice to be sure it is there. It lends every bloom an old-fashioned, romantic quality that photographers and florists find irresistible. A stem picked in the morning will be white. By the evening, the faintest warmth has crept into the petals. By the following day, the pink is unmistakable. A plant in full flower carries all of these stages at once, creating a subtle gradient from white at the top to blushed pink further down.
The scent matches the appearance: refined, sweet, and seriously powerful. English Sweet Peas rate Bramdean 5 out of 5 on their scent scale, the highest possible score. As a Modern Grandiflora, it combines the intense fragrance of the old heritage types with longer stems and larger blooms than a true Grandiflora. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit, a recognition that few sweet peas earn and fewer keep.
The Garden Behind the Name
Bramdean takes its name from Bramdean House in Hampshire, where Victoria Wakefield and her mother established a five-acre garden from the 1940s onward. Wakefield was a Kew trustee and sat on RHS judging panels – a plantswoman of serious standing. The garden became famous for its double mirror-image herbaceous borders and a walled kitchen garden of over an acre. It has been open to visitors through the National Garden Scheme for decades.
Wakefield raised this sweet pea variety herself. A plantswoman breeding a flower and naming it after her own garden seems entirely right – and the result is a variety with the kind of quiet distinction you would expect from that provenance. The garden has since passed to Wakefield's son Teddy and his family, with the mirror borders and walled garden fully restored.
Where to Plant Bramdean
The near-white colouring means Bramdean shows to best advantage against a dark background. A deep green hedge, a slate-grey wall, or dark-stained timber fencing sets off the pale flowers and lets the pink blush register. In a busy mixed border, the subtle colour change can get lost. Give it a position where visitors pass close enough to notice what the flowers are doing.
Full sun and rich, well-prepared soil are essential. At 1.8m, Bramdean is slightly shorter than a full Spencer but still needs proper support – a wigwam, obelisk, or run of netting. Space plants 10–15cm apart and water generously, particularly in dry spells. Feed with comfrey tea or a high-potash liquid from first buds. For detailed planting instructions, see our sweet pea growing guide.
Pairing Ideas
Heathcliff (deep burgundy Modern Grandiflora, AGM, scent 4) provides a striking contrast – the dark maroon makes Bramdean's white-to-pink glow all the more visible. Mollie Rilstone (cream with pink picotee, AGM, scent 4) sits in a similar tonal range, and the two together create a cream-to-white-to-pink drift that looks deliberately planted even when it is not.
Bramdean's white-to-blush colouring threads beautifully through jasmine on a warm wall – the two scents mingle wonderfully on a summer evening. Summer-flowering jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is the natural choice: white flowers, powerful perfume, and a flowering period that overlaps with the sweet peas. Plant the jasmine as the permanent framework and let Bramdean weave through it each year.
Why Grow Ashridge Sweet Peas?
Every one of our sweet pea plugs starts life in our Somerset polytunnel. The seed, which we collect ourselves, is hand-sown at two seeds per plug. After germination, 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 Bramdean?
A Modern Grandiflora, a cross between the old heritage Grandifloras and modern Spencer types. The result combines the intense fragrance and prolific flowering of the heritage group with larger blooms and longer stems. Bramdean has bigger flowers than a true Grandiflora like Matucana but all of the scent.
How fragrant is Bramdean?
Exceptionally. English Sweet Peas rate it 5 out of 5, their highest score. The scent is sweet, refined, and carries well in still air. A small bunch in a warm room fills the space. Among our collection, only King's High Scent and Heaven Scent match it for sheer power.
Does the colour change?
Yes, that is one of Bramdean's distinctive qualities. Each flower opens pure white and develops a soft pink blush over a day or two. A plant in full flower shows every stage simultaneously, which creates a gentle white-to-pink gradient. The blushing is more pronounced in warm weather.
Does Bramdean hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit?
Bramdean holds the RHS AGM, awarded after formal garden trials to varieties that perform reliably across UK conditions. For a variety this heavily scented, the AGM is notable; powerfully fragrant sweet peas can be temperamental growers, but Bramdean is both intensely perfumed and consistently vigorous.
Is Bramdean an annual?
Yes, one spectacular season, then it is finished. All Lathyrus odoratus varieties are annuals, whether Spencer, Grandiflora, or Modern Grandiflora. Our sweet pea collection offers Bramdean and over thirty other varieties each spring, freshly grown as jumbo plugs.
Product Information
Product Information
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
Description
- Variety: Bramdean
- Type: Grandiflora
- Colour: Opens pure white, develops a gentle pink blush
- Scent: 5/5 (English Sweet Peas) – exceptionally strong
- Flowers: Larger than true Grandifloras. 3–4 per stem
- Stems: Around 20cm – good for cutting
- Height: 1.8m (6ft) with support
- Flowering: Late June to September with regular picking
- RHS AGM: Yes
- Show class: Old-Fashioned (NSPS)
- Bred by: Victoria Wakefield, Bramdean House, Hampshire
- Sold as: Jumbo plug plants, hand-sown by us
- Plant outdoors: After last frost
- Delivered: March to May by next-day courier. Collection from Castle Cary also available
Bramdean – A Poet's Garden in a Single Stem
Bramdean opens pure white and then, over a day or two, develops the gentlest pink blush. The effect is almost imperceptible at first; you have to look twice to be sure it is there. It lends every bloom an old-fashioned, romantic quality that photographers and florists find irresistible. A stem picked in the morning will be white. By the evening, the faintest warmth has crept into the petals. By the following day, the pink is unmistakable. A plant in full flower carries all of these stages at once, creating a subtle gradient from white at the top to blushed pink further down.
The scent matches the appearance: refined, sweet, and seriously powerful. English Sweet Peas rate Bramdean 5 out of 5 on their scent scale, the highest possible score. As a Modern Grandiflora, it combines the intense fragrance of the old heritage types with longer stems and larger blooms than a true Grandiflora. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit, a recognition that few sweet peas earn and fewer keep.
The Garden Behind the Name
Bramdean takes its name from Bramdean House in Hampshire, where Victoria Wakefield and her mother established a five-acre garden from the 1940s onward. Wakefield was a Kew trustee and sat on RHS judging panels – a plantswoman of serious standing. The garden became famous for its double mirror-image herbaceous borders and a walled kitchen garden of over an acre. It has been open to visitors through the National Garden Scheme for decades.
Wakefield raised this sweet pea variety herself. A plantswoman breeding a flower and naming it after her own garden seems entirely right – and the result is a variety with the kind of quiet distinction you would expect from that provenance. The garden has since passed to Wakefield's son Teddy and his family, with the mirror borders and walled garden fully restored.
Where to Plant Bramdean
The near-white colouring means Bramdean shows to best advantage against a dark background. A deep green hedge, a slate-grey wall, or dark-stained timber fencing sets off the pale flowers and lets the pink blush register. In a busy mixed border, the subtle colour change can get lost. Give it a position where visitors pass close enough to notice what the flowers are doing.
Full sun and rich, well-prepared soil are essential. At 1.8m, Bramdean is slightly shorter than a full Spencer but still needs proper support – a wigwam, obelisk, or run of netting. Space plants 10–15cm apart and water generously, particularly in dry spells. Feed with comfrey tea or a high-potash liquid from first buds. For detailed planting instructions, see our sweet pea growing guide.
Pairing Ideas
Heathcliff (deep burgundy Modern Grandiflora, AGM, scent 4) provides a striking contrast – the dark maroon makes Bramdean's white-to-pink glow all the more visible. Mollie Rilstone (cream with pink picotee, AGM, scent 4) sits in a similar tonal range, and the two together create a cream-to-white-to-pink drift that looks deliberately planted even when it is not.
Bramdean's white-to-blush colouring threads beautifully through jasmine on a warm wall – the two scents mingle wonderfully on a summer evening. Summer-flowering jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is the natural choice: white flowers, powerful perfume, and a flowering period that overlaps with the sweet peas. Plant the jasmine as the permanent framework and let Bramdean weave through it each year.
Why Grow Ashridge Sweet Peas?
Every one of our sweet pea plugs starts life in our Somerset polytunnel. The seed, which we collect ourselves, is hand-sown at two seeds per plug. After germination, 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 Bramdean?
A Modern Grandiflora, a cross between the old heritage Grandifloras and modern Spencer types. The result combines the intense fragrance and prolific flowering of the heritage group with larger blooms and longer stems. Bramdean has bigger flowers than a true Grandiflora like Matucana but all of the scent.
How fragrant is Bramdean?
Exceptionally. English Sweet Peas rate it 5 out of 5, their highest score. The scent is sweet, refined, and carries well in still air. A small bunch in a warm room fills the space. Among our collection, only King's High Scent and Heaven Scent match it for sheer power.
Does the colour change?
Yes, that is one of Bramdean's distinctive qualities. Each flower opens pure white and develops a soft pink blush over a day or two. A plant in full flower shows every stage simultaneously, which creates a gentle white-to-pink gradient. The blushing is more pronounced in warm weather.
Does Bramdean hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit?
Bramdean holds the RHS AGM, awarded after formal garden trials to varieties that perform reliably across UK conditions. For a variety this heavily scented, the AGM is notable; powerfully fragrant sweet peas can be temperamental growers, but Bramdean is both intensely perfumed and consistently vigorous.
Is Bramdean an annual?
Yes, one spectacular season, then it is finished. All Lathyrus odoratus varieties are annuals, whether Spencer, Grandiflora, or Modern Grandiflora. Our sweet pea collection offers Bramdean and over thirty other varieties each spring, freshly grown as jumbo plugs.
