From £7.25
Colour: red and white Stem: medium Height: 1.8 m Type: Heritage Scent: GoodFrom £7.25
Colour: Light pink and rich mid-blue Stem: Long Height: 1.8m Type: Modern GrandiflFrom £7.25
Colour: purple and deep crimson Stem: medium Height: 2m Type: heirloom GrandifloraWhat a sublime beauty of a sweet pea! Turquoise Lagoon may well transport you straight to the Caribbean, with its pale pink buds opening lavender and changing gradually to the softest of blues, the colour of lapping waves or a picture-postcard tropical sunset. This is a modern hybrid sweet pea, a cross between Lathyrus odoratus and Lathyrus belinensis, creating a new category of sweet peas known as shifters, reflecting the petals' changing colour. It will even morph, from lavender to blue, when cut and arranged in a vase. Take a look at some of the other beauties in our range of sweet peas. Turquoise Lagoon is slightly shorter than most sweet peas, at 1.5m or so, but the scent is magnificent, and it's a prolific flowerer. As always with sweet peas, train them up an obelisk or trellis, guiding the young shoots in at first to help them find a foothold.
Waves of colour
Sweet peas are a cottage garden classic and Turquoise Lagoon will combine effortlessly in a mixed border with other favourites of the English garden, among them Cosmos, whose pastel-coloured flowers will bob and float prettily below a wigwam of sweet peas. Lavender, too, makes a lovely companion: a double whammy of scent and pinky purple hues. It's a good idea to grow a couple of varieties of sweet pea, for added interest in vases. Rich lilac Solitude would go well with Turquoise Lagoon, its more saturated shade providing a beautifully toning contrast. Remember not to let your sweet peas go to seed – keep picking them, and they'll go on and on producing more flowers right into autumn.
As you can tell from the latin name Lathyrus x hammettii Turquoise Lagoon - this is a new introduction bred by sweet pea supremo Keith Hammett in Auckland, New Zealand. Take a look at his sweet peas growing under in the stunning New Zealand hills here. You'll see sweet peas in a whole new light…