Many ideas could spring to mind when sweet peas are mentioned. Some people might envision a lovely bowl of freshly shelled peas that have been plucked from the garden and are ready for consumption.
Others envision picking peas from the garden and eating the entire pod. Then there are pictures of sweet peas with vibrant petals climbing a trellis. At this time of year, we can plant any of these pea varieties, but what I have in mind are sweet pea vines with lovely, fragrant blossoms.
Although they belong to the same family as legumes, peas are a distinct genus. With the aid of soil microorganisms, they can both extract nitrogen from the air, and they both like chilly temperatures. However, we consume one and enjoy the other in bloom.
In Florida, flowering sweet peas have a huge secret to their success. Choose a cultivar that blooms in the winter or during the shorter days. This is stated on the package for them. If you buy the wrong sweet pea, it might not bloom before the hotter weather affects it. So, check for sweet pea packets that state that the flowers will blossom during short or winter days, then take the following actions:
– Locate a sunny area and add organic matter to sandy soils. – Sow the seeds up to an inch deep and 4 to 6 inches apart. – Keep the soil moist to stop it from drying out during germination and growth. – Use a liquid fertilizer or a slow-release fertilizer to feed the plants once when they are actively growing. – Cover the root system with a thin layer of mulch. – Include a trellis because sweet peas tend to climb, especially the shorter varieties. – To keep the blossoms coming, gather cut flowers. – Protect yourself from extremely chilly temperatures; a chill or light frost is usually OK.
It’s likely that some gardeners will recall the sweet peas of Orlando’s Lake Eola Park. You are free to enjoy them as well, but you must begin growing these sweet peas quickly.
Choosing sweet peas and perennial peas
The major consideration is whether or not aroma is crucial to you when deciding between perennial Lathyrus and sweet peas. Decide if you would then like an annual or perennial plant. There are several color choices available as well as climbing and bushier varieties.
Fragrance
Choose sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus), which are generally very fragrant, if you enjoy a pleasant garden and sweet-smelling flowers for indoor use.
Lord Anson’s blue pea (Lathyrus nervosus), a perennial Lathyus, is an exception to the rule since it does have a perfume.
How long the plant lasts
After setting seed, sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) only have a one-year lifespan. However, don’t let this deter you because they are quite simple to grow from seed. Lathyrus latifolius is an example of a perennial species that returns every year, however there are fewer options and they typically lack smell.
Colour
The annual sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) has a large variety of blossom colors, including bicolored varieties. However, the perennial varieties do come in some uncommon colors, like yellow and orange.
Habit
The majority of Lathyrus are climbing plants, therefore support them with canes, netting, or allow them to climb over a bank or through a bush. For ground cover and pots, clumping varieties like the spring-flowering Lathyrus vernus and dwarf bushy sweet pea varieties like “Snoopea” and “Bijou Mixed” are excellent choices.
Buying sweet peas and perennial peas
Although many garden centers also sell a few sweet pea seeds in packets, the largest assortment of sweet pea seeds may be acquired from internet seed suppliers. In the spring, several nurseries and garden centers sell pots of germinated sweet pea seedlings that can be divided into individual plants and raised in pots before being planted outside.
There are a few seed specialists who sell perennial Lathyrus seeds, like Lathyrus latifolius, but many gardeners opt to purchase the plants instead. The plant you’re looking for can be found using our Find a Plant tool.
When to plant sweet peas and perennial peas
- Annual sweet peas should be sown either in late January or early April and planted out in April.
- Sow perennial Lathyrus in the spring or the fall.
Where to plant sweet peas and perennial peas
Locate a sunny area where there is room for the plant to grow or to bush out (depending on its habit). Also acceptable is a little light shade, especially for Lathyrus grandiflorus.
How to plant sweet peas and perennial peas
- To avoid cold shock, indoor seedlings should be hardened off for 10–14 days before being transplanted outside.
- Ideally, four weeks before planting, enhance the soil by incorporating a soil conditioner like garden compost or manure.
- Sprinkle general-purpose fertilizer, as directed on the pack, into the area where you plan to plant it, such as Growmore, Vitax Q4, or blood, fish, and bones.
- Before planting, water your plants thoroughly to hydrate the roots.
- Remove pots from larger plants and ease seedlings out of modules or pots while being careful not to snap or crush the stems.
- Plants should be separated by 20–30 cm (8–1 ft).
- Place climbing plants near to their intended support (within 5-7.5cm or 2-3in), with two plants at the foot of each cane if they are climbing a wigwam.
- After planting, water once more to help the soil surrounding the roots settle.
Use garden twine or sweet pea support rings to secure young climbing plant shoots to canes, pea sticks, netting, trellis, or shrub shoots that they will be growing up. Tendrils in contact with supports will naturally start to cling on, but if any are straying or in danger of snapping, keep tying in new shoots.
In dry weather, check on plants in the ground every 3 to 4 days and on those in containers every day because they won’t flower as well if they become too dry. Each time you water, be sure to use enough water to completely moisten the roots.
Apply a high potassium liquid fertilizer, such as tomato feed, once or twice a week on light or infertile soils. This promotes flowering, particularly in annual sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus).
Pick or remove dead flower heads as frequently as you can once flowering starts. For annual sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus), which will stop flowering if seedpods are allowed to form, this is especially crucial.
Pinching out
When plants are around 7.5 to 10 cm tall, pinch out the shoot tips of new spring-sown sweet peas for gardening (3-4in). This promotes robust side branching. Autumn-planted seedlings frequently naturally branch.
Cordons
Pick the strongest shoot and keep pinching out all the tendrils and other sideshoots as they grow whether you want to enter your sweet peas in a local show or just want to maximize the size of blossoms for cutting. By using this technique, the plant directs its attention to the blossoms. The term “cordons” is used to describe these single-stemmed plants.
One stem per bamboo cane or tall stake needs to be tied to them on a regular basis. To keep the shoot in place as it grows, you can use twine looped in a figure-eight pattern around the cane and stem. Use sweet pea rings, which are wire loops that wrap around the stem and cane and are lightly squeezed until they hold, to make things simpler.
Cordons have the potential to grow much taller than the typical 2 m (6 1/2 ft) estimated height.
Cutting back
Cut perennial Lathyrus back to the ground in the fall, or better still, wait until February to do it so the dead stems can serve as wintertime cover for wildlife. When flowering is ended at the end of the summer, annual sweet peas can simply be pulled out and composted. This might happen a little bit sooner during hot, dry seasons.
Methods
Sweet peas can be immediately sown into the ground in April, or they can be planted in seed compost pots in the fall or spring. Although it takes more time, pot-sowing is typically more dependable than direct sowing. If you plant in the fall to enhance your chances of getting early blooms, keep seedlings in a coldframe or cold greenhouse over the winter to protect them from growing lanky. Keep the coldframe’s lid elevated unless a strong frost is anticipated. Sweet peas planted in the spring flower in 12–14 weeks.
Sweet pea seeds frequently have a tough outer covering that makes them more challenging to germinate. Place your seeds on a layer of damp vermiculite or kitchen tissue and store them in an airtight container in a warm area. As soon as the seeds swell or start to sprout, plant them. Some gardeners like to soak the seeds overnight instead, but if you don’t plant them right away thereafter, they might rot. With a sharp penknife, chip off a little portion of the hard seed coat to allow moisture to enter and promote germination on recalcitrant seeds that haven’t swelled.
- Individually sow seeds in seed compost-filled rootrainers or 9 cm (3 in) pots. As an alternative, sow five to seven seeds per 13 cm (5 in) pot, spacing them 2-3 cm (3/4-11/4 in) apart.
- Add 1 cm (1/2 in) of vermiculite or compost to the top of the seeds.
- Add water and maintain at around 15C. (59F)
- It is optional to cover the pots with clear polythene or glass to reduce the likelihood that they will dry out, but keep in mind to remove the covering after the seeds have germinated.
- Once they have grown to around 3.5 cm (11/2 in), carefully transplant single seedlings into 9cm (3 in) pots if you have seeded them several to a pot.
- Use your thumb and finger to pinch out (remove) the top of the shoot just above a healthy leaf when the seedlings are 7.5–10cm (3–4in) tall. This will promote side branches, which are always stronger than the core stem that has been removed.
- At least four weeks before planting, remove all weeds from the soil and add a soil enhancer, such as garden compost, manure, or composted bark.
- Only plant seeds as the soil begins to warm, typically around April.
- To create a wigwam, plant any temporary supports, like pea sticks or bamboo canes, in the ground.
- Take out a shallow drill of dirt 2.5 cm (1 in) deep for rows of sweet peas, and plant a seed every 5 to 7.5 cm in it (2-3in)
- Seedlings should eventually be spaced 20–30 cm (8–1 ft) apart to provide the plants enough room to flourish. The extra seedlings may seem like a waste to compost, but unless treated carefully, their roots are typically too damaged to recover.
- Push two seeds into the ground at the base of each cane to a depth of 2.5 cm (1 in) when sowing around a wigwam of canes.
Perennial peas
In the spring or the fall, divide bigger plants. If you want to divide Lathyrus vernus in the spring, wait until after flowering.
Unfortunately, very few of the issues with sweet peas and perennial peas are extremely problematic.
- Powdery mildew, which is brought on by drought or insufficient hydration, results in a grey leaf coating.
Can sweet peas be grown in South Florida?
Utilize every square inch of your vegetable garden this winter by going vertical and planting English peas (Pisum sativum).
Here in Florida, during the coldest months of the year, these delectable legumes can be grown. English peas can be planted in Central and South Florida from September through February. Plant from January to March in North Florida.
As with other vegetables, English peas should be planted where they’ll receive plenty of sun, preferably in an enriched soil. Don’t forget to offer them a sturdy surface to climb on, as well as any nutrients and water they may require. The pea pods should swell and be edible in a few months.
In Zone 9, can I grow sweet peas?
Mixed Royal Family Any garden space will be transformed into a kaleidoscope of color and smell by the gorgeous array of heirloom sweet pea types in Sweet Pea. Due to their powerful smell and excellent cutting qualities, we adore sweet peas. They will cheerfully reseed and produce years of lovely blooms whether they are grown on a trellis or allowed to grow wild in the garden.
- In Zones 9 and 10, sweet peas are a cool-season crop. They can be planted from late fall to early spring. Sweet peas take a while to bloom; for the most breathtaking early spring blooms, we advise planting them in October or November.
- Direct sow in the early spring when there is no risk of frost and the soil is workable.
- You can direct seed sweet peas in full light in Zones 9 and 10 or move them outside. To protect plants from the heat and Santa Ana winds during our hot fall season, we frequently start in starter trays. We perform transplanting while covered by shade cloth into deeply irrigated soils.
- In order to direct sow, seeds should be planted in thoroughly cultivated, debris-free soil. Add half of the finely sifted soil on top.
- Plant seeds into thoroughly moist, top-notch seed starting soil if you’re planting them in starter pots. After scattering the seeds over the surface, cover with half of the finely sifted soil.
- Apply an organic liquid fertilizer once your seeds have germinated and grown to a height of 1-2 inches. You can plant the seeds outside in the garden once they are 3–4 tall.
- Plants should be at least six apart.
- Once you have them established, this plant is simple to grow! As they develop, they will require assistance, such as a trellis, to climb.
- Mulching extensively around your plants will enhance moisture retention and weed control.
- Early in the morning, gather the flowers, and immediately put them in a vase with room temperature water. Blooms have an overpoweringly fragrant perfume that permeates the entire space.
- It’s simple to grow this bloom in a container. Make sure your container is at least 20 inches deep, and don’t forget to include support so that plants can flourish. Remember that because they have more surface area and less soil to absorb moisture, containers will dry out more quickly. To prevent the soil from drying out or becoming too hot, cover the top layer of soil in the container with a thick layer of mulch.
- It is crucial to safeguard plants from hot weather or heat waves. If required, cover with shade cloth.
- To prevent the soil from drying out or becoming too hot, cover your plants with a thick layer of mulch.
- When planting sweet peas in the fall, aphids may be a problem because of the heat. As soon as you notice any aphids on your plants, wash them off and wait until the soil has cooled.
- Because it grows slowly and is so adorable, we like to place alyssum at the foot of the sweet pea plants.