Easton Walled Gardens confirms Sweet Pea Season for groups

The Lincolnshire attraction will welcome groups to its huge Sweet Pea Season from 26th June 2024, where the plants will remain in full flower for about a month. 

Groups of 15 or more can book a tailored visit on Wednesdays - Sundays, with coach drivers offered free entry, tea and cake. Pre-booking is essential.

Easton Walled Gardens is well-known for its sweet peas. Every year the gardeners raise hundreds of plants over the winter, ready for a display in high summer.

In late June and early July, groups to the gardens are invited to wander through the site enjoying the classic English flowers. The sweet peas are grown on supports in the vegetable garden and repeated on the southern wall of the old gardens. 

Visitors can also explore the rest of the 12 acres across the 450-year-old gardens, near Grantham, which have been home to the Cholmeley family since 1592.

What sweet peas are the head gardeners’ favourites?

Head gardener, Tim Marshall shares his favourites to look out for on a visit…

For scent: “Indigo King is a must for any bouquet of flowers thanks to its powerful scent and alluring maroon and purple colours. Similar to the original sweet pea but with more flowers per stem, making for an arguably prettier plant and fuller bouquet.”

For colour: “Thanks to its deep purple hue, Almost Black looks particularly striking when grown with Victorian and Edwardian sweet peas such as America or Indigo King. Heavily scented, this variety is an excellent example of a Grandiflora-type with three flowers to a stem.”

For floriferousness: “With on average four large flowers to a stem, Border Beauty is a particularly dynamic sweet pea. Features pure white flowers, bordered with blue (known as a ‘wire’ or ‘picotee’ outline). Delicate and refreshing, its blue-edged petals will bring your bouquets to life.”

Exclusive to the gardens: “Toffee Apple is a red sweet pea which is a must for all lovers of sweet peas because it throws out so many stems. The plant will provide colour for many posies all with that unforgettable sweet pea scent.”