Graham Rice. The Sweet Pea Book. Timber Press. 2002.

Heirloom flowers are back in fashion. Graham Rice's book, The Sweet Pea Book, will help gardeners become reacquainted with this lovely flower so popular in earlier generations.

He begins by presenting a short history of the movement of sweet pea plants from the wild to our cultivated gardens. As with many plants, the popularity of these plants has increased and decreased over time.

Many gardeners are into fragrance. Chapter 2 discusses those sweet pea varieties with the best fragrances. That chapter is followed by a discussion of sweet peas in the garden, dwarf varieties, and those useful for container gardening.

No book on plants is complete without a discussion of the classification of that plant followed by descriptions of the species varieties. The author even dedicated a chapter just to the wild annual form of sweet pea.

Information on raising sweet peas from seed and taking care of the mature plants. Hybridizing is creating new colors of these plants almost yearly. Of course, it is important to learn about possible problems.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on using sweet peas in the house and learning about showing these plants at fairs, plant shows or garden shows. I was somewhat surprised to discover that the United States doesn't have a society for sweet peas like the British do! However, reading the tips for growing these plants in various parts of the United States may explain their limited popularity in North America.

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