Matucana Sweet Peas

Matucana may be an old-fashioned heirloom grandiflora, but by most accounts it is the most powerfully scented sweet pea of them all. The scent is as arresting as the fabulous colour: a two tone treat of vibrant magenta and deep purple. The resulting fusion of colour and scent is absolutely knockout. It's a prolific flowerer, too, hence the RHS Award of Garden Merit - and, as always with sweet peas, the more you pick, the more your plants will flower, so get out there every day and snip a few stems for a vase: you may even end up having flowers all the way through until October or November if you're dedicated. Having said that, Matucana doesn't have the longest of stems, so it's not a show grower's variety, and you're better off aiming to pick small posies for a rustic jug rather than long stems for a tall vase. But when the scent's this good, no one's complaining. If you're not one for saturated colour, and prefer pastel tones, take a look at the rest of our range of sweet peas.

Top honours

Always grow sweet peas up some kind of support - be that a trellis, obelisk or wigwam of bamboo canes. You can even plant them in the vegetable patch where they'll flower up among the runner beans and help attract pollinators. Or combine them with other colours of sweet peas. Try them with John Gray, a pretty watercolour pink with large flowers, or pure white Mrs Collier, whose perfume is very nearly as intoxicating as Matucana's.

The flowers may be smaller than those of the modern-day Spencer type sweet peas, but what Matucana's blooms lack in size, they more than make up for in scent.

Features of Matucana

Colour: purple and deep crimson bicolour
Stem: medium
Height: 2m
Type: heirloom Grandiflora
Scent: outstanding
Flowering: June to September
Planting Months: March-April
RHS Award of Garden Merit

All the way from Peru?

Matucana is a town in central Peru known for its beautiful waterfall, and possibly the origin of the sweet pea, although nobody seems to know for sure.

Plant Matucana Sweet Peas in well prepared, moist soil that ideally has been improved with organic matter. Erect supports for the peas to climb up before planting. They can also be planted in pots of sufficient size - allow 6 litres per plant - and with an ideal planting medium of 50% compost, 40 %top soil and 10% well-rotted manure. General purpose compost will do however but produces fewer flowers.

Mollie Rilstone can be grown in a container, as long as it is large enough - allow at least 5 litres per plant - and they are kept well fed and watered, as sweet peas are famously thirsty and greedy. Make sure they get plenty of water and potassium (potash) rich plant food, such as tomato fertiliser.

The principal requirement is enough water - Sweet Peas are thirsty and hungry plants. They can cope with a little shade but flower better in full sun.

Space each plant about 30 cm apart and about 5 cm from its support. The hole should be deep enough to accommodate the longest root and the soil should come up to the level of the first side shoot. Use wire/netting/twine between the supports so that the Sweet Pea can climb naturally. You will still need to tie them into the frame. They grow fast, so check every ten days or so.

Water well; the soil around sweet peas should never dry out. As the flowers develop pick them and keep on picking, otherwise they start to form seedpods and will stop flowering altogether. Keep tying in and picking for as long as you can. Perfectionists will remove the curling tendrils which grip other stems and can result in flowers with wiggly stems and also will remove side shoots. see the website for more advice on training sweetpeas.

, By all means, apply a high potash and phosphate fertiliser during the growing season. (Sweet Peas actually fix nitrogen from the air into the soil so you don't need more of that.) Home-made comfrey liquid is perfect or Tomorite will do especially if you are on a sandy soil.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: Our standard delivery charges are:

Small box (Orders containing only seedlings or rooted cuttings) £7.20 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Standard box (Bareroots up to 1.2m) £11.40 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £60 inc VAT)
Large box (Pots up to and incl. 7.5L) £15.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £100 inc VAT)
Trees & Hedging (Bareroots & trees 1.2m+) £18.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £120 inc VAT)
Pallets (Root balls, large pots, trees etc) £60.00 including VAT per order (FREE For ORDERS Over £240 inc VAT)

Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Misc	RHS AGM
Shade	Full Shade
Area	Coastal Areas, Frost Pockets, Scotland & The North
Soil	Good, Well Drained
Colour	Purple
Type	Rootrained, Seedling
Also Good	Fragrant, Repeat Flowering
Flowering	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep

	Buy 2 or more seedling packs and save

SIZES	1	2-5	6+
Pack of 4	Available to order from early July - do come back then £6.48	Available to order from early July - do come back then£5.04	Available to order from early July - do come back then£4.80
	Prices include VAT

Ashridge Nurseries is working as normal and the despatching of bareroot plants is underway.

You can see Current Delivery Information Here. We are now taking orders for delivery in February 2021.

Bulbs in the Green are available to order today.

Order now for delivery in February/March.

Matucana Sweet Pea Seedlings

Lathyrus odoratus Matucana

Matucana Sweet Peas

Top honours

Features of Matucana

All the way from Peru?

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April
Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?

Curried Carrot & Coriander Soup

LATEST VIDEO

Sign up!

Ashridge Nurseries is working as normal and the despatching of bareroot plants is underway.

You can see Current Delivery Information Here. We are now taking orders for delivery in February 2021.

Bulbs in the Green are available to order today.

Order now for delivery in February/March.

Matucana Sweet Pea Seedlings

Lathyrus odoratus Matucana

Matucana Sweet Peas

Top honours

Features of Matucana

All the way from Peru?

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?

Curried Carrot & Coriander Soup

LATEST VIDEO

Sign up!

Bareroot planting is best done between October and April
Bareroot and potted - what's the difference?