A World of Sweet Peas: A new book on the history of this remarkable plant

As books go, this is a beauty. But look beyond the glorious photographs and the list of new cultivars and you’ll be inspired to try and find seeds to grow, and this is much more than something to look pretty on the coffee table.

I knew a bit about the history of sweet peas and how they went from scrambling over hillsides in Sicily to becoming a beloved ingredient, prized in cutting gardens around the world. But the detail here of how this tiny-flowered, scented annual became the glorious modern grandiflora of today, how the cultivars were bred, propagated, and the seed sent around the globe, means I know much more now thanks to this fascinating story.

This book is written by people who love sweet peas with an abiding passion. Cecilia Wingård is the author of two popular books in Swedish on sweet peas and cut flowers, and co-author Philip Johnson is one of Britain’s leading sweet pea breeders and an expert in the field. The history of sweet peas, their classification, propagation, breeding, their use in floristry – every possible subject associated with these easy-to-grow-if-you-know-how annuals is covered.

Plant societies such as the National Sweet Pea Society will have to evolve to keep up with the TikTokers

What I like most is the way the story is told through those of the people who helped disseminate sweet pea seed around the world. Here we have the 17th-century monk Francis Cupani sending seed to Amsterdam and England, the grandiflora breeder Henry Eckford and the producer of the first of the florists’ favourites, the Spencer varieties, Silas Cole. Often head gardeners at country houses were exceptional plant breeders too, and here we’re told how they graduated from another man’s greenhouse to their own patch of land and soon seed production companies. The images transport one to a world of hand-tinted seed packets, and maps of where the growers and experts lived – not far from one another, so it’s not surprising that the spread of knowledge was so efficiently achieved – and then the journey the seeds took across oceans to become so highly prized as cut flowers around the world.

This telling of the grand old days of flower shows evokes a feeling of wistfulness for a bygone age in which there were huge exhibitions of thousands of sweet pea bouquets at London’s Crystal Palace, for example, to which growers would send their entries, carefully boxed up, by train.

The story of the creation of the National Sweet Pea Society (NSPS), which would keep the flame of sweet pea propagation, growing and exhibiting to a very high standard, is told. As is the relationship of that society with the RHS, and the opportunity for anyone, no matter what their class or status, to become a respected member of that society and make a difference in the sweet-pea-growing world.

It is true that these days, small plant societies sometimes struggle to maintain their membership. Sadly, it’s becoming the case that in today’s world of internet information, any old Tom, Tina or Harry can claim expertise in growing plants, sweet peas included, and share their information with conviction on social media. Plant societies such as the NSPS will have to evolve to keep up with the TikTokers. But RHS Garden Wisley is contributing strongly to a world where flower festivals are offered again. The book has pictures of the RHS sweet pea forum examining the trials beds at Wisley, judging for coveted RHS Awards of Garden Merit (AGM).

As a person who is occasionally invited to review books, I generally assume that a book, once reviewed, will find its way to another home. We operate a one book in, one book out policy here at Common Farm or we would soon find ourselves overwhelmed. However, this one’s clearly a keeper. Another will have to be expelled from our collection so that A World of Sweet Peas can stay.

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