In autumn I sowed a packet of Matucana sweet peas – a highly perfumed old fashioned variety bred in the 1920s. Its flowers closely resemble those of first wild lathyrus odoratus seeds sent to England by a Sicilian monk, Father Fransisco Cupani, in 1699. 
The flowers are smaller than some of the modern varieties but their strong fragrance and opulent colour combination of crimson (standards) and purple (wing petals) make up for it. In my garden this year some of the purple wing petals are streaked with crimson too. 
Our house has been perfumed with posies of sweet peas and crimson roses. (This is a rare photograph I have taken of munstead wood roses where the red colour isn’t completely blown out – it’s just too powerful for my camera to handle.)
A rogue pastel pink one has appeared – probably self-sown from last year’s sweet peas. I can live with that in the back garden where pastel colours are more welcome. 
