Easy Annuals

Matthiola 'Starlight Scentsation Mix has been developed to give a balanced blend of soft colours and a reliably strong scent throughout summer. They flower rapidly in a modern, soft pastel blend of lilac, mauve, pink and cream. Perfect for borders and containers, they also make a lovely, fragrant cut flower.

Night or Evening-scented Stock is one of the easiest and rewarding scented plants to grow. The flowers open in the late afternoon and emit a most delightful fragrance. The scent has been compared to vanilla, rose, spice and even cloves. It will become a summer fragrance you will never want to be without.

Matthiola incana, commonly known as 'Stocks' are highly adaptable. They can be sown early in spring to give a summer flowering display or can be treated as biennials. Seedlings started inside in October will have the flowers ready for Valentine’s Day. The extra trouble of overwintering the plants is compensated by the showy spring floral display.

Florists’ bouquets often include stocks. They enchant us with the soft colours of the double flowers and with their intensely sweet scent. The Miracle series is specifically cultivated for cutting. With extremely large flower heads and upright strong stems, they do not branch but grow neatly to about 70cm tall.

Full, lush, double blooms, with a velvety texture are dressed in a dusky, old-world hue, soft mauve-pink with hints of smoky lavender. Matthiola 'Mathilda Antique Rose' can be sown early in spring to give a summer flowering display or if treated as biennials, the flowers will be ready for Valentine’s Day.

Introduced in 1981 in celebration of the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, Lathyrus 'Royal Wedding' produces wonderfully large, slightly ruffled flowers with four to five blooms to a stem. They are of course perfect for wedding work.

Bred by Roger Parsons in 2011 and named in honour of his wife, ‘Just Julia’ is a modern example of the classic Spencer Sweet Pea. It produces large, frilled blooms on long, strong stems and distinguished by its glowing pink petals with a lilac undertone. Highly recommended.

Long-stemmed creamy-white with extra-long, thick stems and a wonderful fragrance, Lathyrus 'Ice-Cream' is a romantic addition to the garden and perfect for wedding work. Stunningly beautiful, with the most delicious vanilla ice cream coloured large undulating petals.

Lathyrus odoratus 'Arthur Hellyer', produces large undulating flowers in shades of soft lavender, white and light purple. named after the English gardener Arthur Hellyer. Highly fragrant with the classic heady and sweet pea scent, they are absolutely irresistible!

Created from the resurgence of interest in breeding sweet peas for scent, Spencer Modern sweet peas provide the best of all worlds for the gardener. Lathyrus 'Zorija Rose' is a brilliantly bright variety with magenta flowers and excellent fragrance. They make exceptionally fine cut flowers.

Sweet Pea 'Wiltshire Ripple' is an old variety, recently rediscovered and is a particularly heavy and long blooming vine. A unique colour combination in the fashionable ripple pattern of claret to chocolate colouring over white scented blooms. With long strong stems, they are ideal for cutting, exhibition and garden decoration.

Providing the best of all worlds for the gardener, Spencer Modern sweet peas have exceptional scent, combined with large ruffled petals and long stems that are perfect for cutting. With big, prolific flowers on long stems, 'Pulsar' produces fragrant, ruffled white flowers rippled with delicate lilac stripes and flakes.

Created from the resurgence of interest in breeding sweet peas for scent, Exceptionally fragrant, with a vintage look, Lathyrus 'Old Times' produce elegant and unusually coloured blooms on long stems. Dreamy, cream-colored blooms with lavender-blue blush and veins - this variety is a must grow.

There’s a Sweet Pea renaissance happening in the cut flower market and among the most sought after by florists and flower farmers alike is the dramatic Nimbus. A spencer type with big, prolific flowers on long stems, Nimbus wears its stormy dark-blue-violet highlights sprayed against a cream background.

A blended mixture of outstanding quality. Composed of over 40 colours and shades of the Spencer Waved sweet peas. Large flowered and fragrant with an excellent colour range - with so many having such a beautiful scent … who could resist?

Dr Keith Hammett has bred many incredible new varieties, now referred to as the 'Modern Grandiflora's', they feature larger petal sizes and longer stem lengths and, importantly, their scent has been retained. 'Moody Blues' combines three of Keith's most popular varieties.

Lathyrus odoratus 'Midnight' is very special variety of sweet pea, seed of which is seldom available.Beautifully formed scented blooms of dark crimson, almost black. An amazing colour. The flowers are almost twice the size of a regular sweet pea and its stems are almost twice the length and so are perfect for cutting.

Lovingly nicknamed the 'unicorn sweet pea', 'Enchante' is an amazing tri-colour variety in blush pink, white and soft mauve or lavender. Raised and introduced by Dr Keith Hammett, this fabulously feminine sweet pea will produce fist fulls of demure little blooms for a gorgeous display.

A delicate beauty that stands out among the bolder varieties, Lathyrus odoratus ‘Butterfly’ bears lightly ruffled blooms that are softly flushed and veined with lilac and lavender. They are intensely fragrant and with long, sturdy stems that are superb for cutting. They make a striking presence in the garden or the vase.

Lathyrus odoratus ‘Prima Donna’ is a classic Grandiflora sweet pea introduced by Henry Eckford in 1896, during the golden age of sweet pea breeding. It bears rosy-pink blooms that deepen as they mature, each flower beautifully proportioned and carried two or three to a stem.