SUCH SWEET PEAS

Sian's sweets peas have been stupendous this year.

Each morning she brings armfuls into the kitchen for cutting and distribution throughout the house.

Fragrance abounds.

Sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) is native to Sicily, southern Italy and the Aegean Islands.

It was Henry Eckford (1823–1905), a Scottish nurseryman who crossbred and developed the sweet pea, turning it into the floral sensation of the late Victorian era.

Henry was head gardener for the Earl of Radnor, raising new cultivars of pelargoniums and dahlias. However as a member of the Royal Horticultural Society, he was awarded a First Class Certificate in 1882 for introducing the sweet pea cultivar 'Bronze Prince'.

Lathyrus odorous  the floral sensation of the late Victorian era