I think this is a first! Plants of a recently introduced sweet pea in the old-fashioned style are now available - on both sides of the Atlantic. In North America in particular it can be hard to find sweet peas available as plants by mail order so this is a welcome development.

'Fire and Ice' is a recent introduction, an heirloom Grandiflora type, it's a red and white bicolour with a powerful fragrance. The wings feature an intriguing colour change: they start white with a blue edge and the blue colour slowly expands. It's great to see plants available by mail order on both sides of the Atlantic.

It turned up by chance as a mutation in a row of plants of a maroon and violet bicolour on Mark Rowland's trials at Owl's Acre Sweet Peas in Lincolnshire in eastern England. He selected it out, trialled it to be sure it was stable and introduced it on a limited scale in 2005. It made its debut at the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Flower Show where the picture was taken.

Plants are now available in North America from Heronswood.

Plants are now available in Britain from Simply Sweet Peas.