Sweet Pea Parfume Edith Flanagan

Few things speak of the English cottage garden quite like a posy of sweet peas on a windowsill. Edith Flanagan is among the finest — a Spencer-type variety with large, frilly bicolour blooms in soft pink wings and a deeper rose-pink standard, layered like porcelain in the morning light.

Vigorous and generous, she climbs readily to 1.8–2.4m and produces long, straight stems carrying four or five flowers each — perfect for cutting. Her perfume is powerful and nostalgic: the kind that stops you in your tracks.

• Lathyrus odoratus 'Edith Flanagan'
• Hardy Annual (H3) — sow autumn or early spring
• Height: 1.8–2.4m | Flowers: June–September
• Approximately 20 seeds per packet
• Ideal for obelisks, wigwams, and cutting gardens

Grow her up a garden obelisk or let her scramble through a border — either way, she will reward you with armfuls of scent all summer long.