Yeah!!!!! Gorgeous. Your secret please?

Brenda - I wish I knew so I can duplicate it. I direct sowed them in early January and then let God take control. They have had no extra ferts - get early afternoon sun and just regular watering. The garden base is a good flower garden mix from Triangle Landscaping Supply - manure, soil conditioner and sand. We get that by the truck load and do all our gardens with it. Next year my husband is going to build a framed rabbit fencing thingy for them to climb on. I just used bird netting this year and it didn't hold them very well. OH....and it was Burpee 97cent Sweetpeas that I got from Walmart :).....

Lynne

How beautiful!!

I like the way your sweetpeas look. I like the different colors.

There are some wild sweetpeas growning (all the same pink color)in the house where I grew up. A few years ago I rooted one of them and then took it to where I live now. Did not plant it in ground and it growed good for two years then it died one winter (maybe the roots froze in the pot?). I have planted them from seeds before without much luck.They came up but didn't do good (but they were planted in bad location and I didn't help them out much). I hope to plant some in good growing condition sometimes. Do your smell good?

Gorgeous! Mine are suffering in full sun, good soil, daily watering here in zone 7NC Piedmont. They are about 10 inches tall so far and I will continue to try each year if you can do this in your zone which is a tad warmer than mine. Should I have put them in morning sun with afternoon shade? How much sun and shade do yours get?

I had good success this spring with snow peas, after years of failures. Maybe there was some secret component to this years winter that peas just love.

I'm gonna try some next winter. Thanks for the inspiration.

lynne, kudos!! goegeous display. sweet peas always remind me of my grandma- it was one of her favorites, and i always try to grow a few in her memory. i'd like to know your shade sun ratio & times, too.

i think this has been a really optimum year for peas in general. i have had the best crop of sugar, snow & regular peas i've ever had. i also planted mine in late january. the best luck i've had with sweet peas is to plant them in the fall, and let them lie along the ground til it warms up. they can tolerate a lot of cold- down to about 10 or 15 degrees. the ones that reseed in my yard always sprout in the late fall or early winter. i've never had mine all together like that, so i've not had that impressive of a display. plus, i need to be better about mulching the area i grow them & trhey come up in, and they'd probably suffer a lot less from droughty times. i saw a similar spectacle last spring at a friend's house. i was amazed- hers kept going into june. mine ususally peter out about may.

basil, you are talking aout perennial sweet peas (lathyrus latifolius), which are different- lynne's got the annuals. related, though. the perenns have no scent. they are easy to start from seed, and i've seen them with other seed packets. if you come to the raleigh swaps, i normally bring a few seedlings that have popped up in my yard. i try hard not to let mine set seed, but can watch and gather some for you if you'd like. just let me know.
tam

Thank you everyone for the compliments - I really think the winter we had was the reason for the success - our garden peas were good too - we just didn't plant enough.

As for the sun, ect - they are on an easterly facing garage wall and get sun from morning till around 1:00 but I do have a similar grouping in my cottage garden and they get sun all day and were equally as abundant with bloom. I took the pictures of this one because it had more colors in it. The other seed packet was more pinks, whites and rose colors. We do hand water this little garden but not a whole lot. The peas were actually sown under the overhang of the garage roof and stay pretty dry. I did put a fair amount of lime in the soil before I sowed the seeds - not sure if that had anything to do with it or not....

Lynne

Oh Lynne! They are at the top of my favorite flower list! That is a beautiful picture and display! There is nothing like the fragrance of a bundle of sweet peas. Did you soak or nick the seeds at all perchance?
-Nan

tamelask,

I like to try a few of your perennial sweet peas.
Not sure where I plant them, but will find a place.

They are beautiful! Great job!

What a truly gorgeous display, Lynne! Guess I'll have to try again to grow the annuals.

Lucky you, they look great!

My first attempt at annuals was this year -- they're about 4 inches tall and with one bud, but if the flower opens I'll take it!

Nan - I didn't do anything with the seeds - just poked a hole with my finger to first knuckle and put the seed in and covered - nothing fancy. Maybe that was the secrete - in the past I did all the special pre-treatment - this year I just popped them in the ground - didn't even water them till they germinated. Sad thing is - they are on the decline now but I know there will be other flowers that will WOW me through-out the summer but this was somehow pretty special for me :):)

Glad I could share them with y'all. Our digital broke on me the beginning of May and we were able to get a new one/better one for almost free after they deducted the cost of the old camera when they decided it couldn't be repaired. For ONCE that extended service contract paid off and I don't usually get them but for some reason did on the camera .....

Lynne

I am growing sweet peas from seed for the first time and they are ready to be transplanted outside. Does anyone know how I should support them? I am planting along a picket fence - but should I tie some twine or string horizontally as well so they have something to hang onto?
Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks

So beautiful! Now, you've inspired me to try to grow them.

Thanks for the pix.
Cameron

yes, they will need something small to cling to, like string, and you'll probably have to guide them at first. it's kind of late to be getting them going. next year, sow them in the fall and they'll do marvelously.