Sweet Pea Erewhon

Simply stunning Erewhon will stop you in your tracks. Best described as a tricolour, it has rich mauve wings leading up to the rose-pink and cream upper petals of the softly rounded blooms. This is a triumph from Keith Hammett, a highly scented semi-grandiflora that’s as good in the garden as it is on the show bench and a welcome sight (and perfume) in any room.
🌸 Flowering: June to August
📏 Height: to 180cm
🌿 Annual
SOW: either in deep pots from October to February (place in a cold frame) or sow in March or April.  You can direct sow in mild areas in the spring. Some suggest that soaking the seed overnight before sowing aids germination.
GROW:  harden off your spring sown plants before planting out in May/June for blooms from July.  Overwintered sweet peas may flower earlier than this.  Sweet peas need support.  For exhibition grow as a cordon and limit flowers – everyone else pinch out above 2nd pair of leaves for bushier growth and as many flowers as possible!
ENJOY: picking encourages even more of these stunning, highly scented, blooms
And the name of this lovely flower?
Well, we’ve argued both pronunciation and origins here. Erewhon is the title of an 1872 book by Samuel Butler, set in a fictional country, an apparent utopia, discovered and explored by its protagonist. Erewhon is an anagram of “nowhere”. The opening chapters, describing the discovery of this land, were inspired by Butler’s time in New Zealand.
The connection to New Zealand is, of course, Keith Hammett. Beyond that, perhaps the link lies in spirit: the uniqueness of Erewhon, unconventional and a little offbeat, might well have inspired the name. Or perhaps he had simply enjoyed a good book.