I have no advice or experience to offer- only hope! One of my earliest childhood memories is of going with my mother to see sweetpeas a friend had grown here in Charleston. He grew them every year and they were beautiful. That was in the early 60's so it surely wasn't anything new that helped his sweetpeas.

So at least we know it can be done!

Sweetpea does need to planted in the fall or winter here or will not amount to anything. That is the sweetpea flower!

Here on the Mississippi Coast I must have either stumbled on the perfect micro climate or the perfect variety of sweet peas.

I started with an older variety. Not a hybrid. Most didn't make it. Yet those I planted at the base of a trumpet vine, On the west side, next to the house. The wall it's against encloses an indoor pool, (I'm not sure if that has any thing to do with it, or not.)

Well they've been coming back for 4 or 5 springs now. Seems to reseed themselves. I'll see them coming up about september. Bloom from feb. to the first of may. Die out by the first of july.

Thanks, everyone, for your help. They are really pretty, so I think I'll try them this Fall. I'll be sure to let y'all know how they turn out.

Jeanni

I had good luck planting them in September in zone 8a. Lousy luck planting them in January. Sweetpea flowers.

Hi1 try planting in the fall. Also choose the Winter Elegance type- which bloom before the heat comes on. They will take a frost.
pat

I have sweet peas for the first time this year. They are planted in all cow manure. Read where you plant them in a furrow and keep adding soil(manure) to the base as they grow. I did not cont. adding the manure but wish I had. I planted mine around the A/C lattice. The ones planted where the air comes out have done the best. Here is a photo of mine taken yesterday.

As of yet they do not seem to be dying. Gayle NC

Those look great, Gayle!

I bought two packets of seeds yesterday, so I can experiment some. I'm gonna plant some tomorrow and some next month to see if either one does better than the Spring planting did.

Jeanni

for the past 2 years i have had no luck w/ sweetpeas - previous to that i had no problems - i need help - last year i purchased seeds on line and the germination rate was lousy - this year i had slow growth and now the blooms are on extremely short stems, one to two inches - i am so disappointed and truly mystified - does anyone have a clue?
i planted in october which is the right time for this area

I planted the "Old Spice" variety the last three years. This is an old variety which is very fragrant. I planted in October. The first two years I had great success, this last year I bombed. A late hard freeze was followed by unseasonably warm weather - and this did my plants in. So I think success is very weather dependant. But they are worth the gamble. A fragrant bouquet of these beauties is a delight to bring into the house in late winter or early spring.

Good thread. I'm disappointed in my sweet peas too. I started them indoors in Jan.--babied them but they still aren't doing well. Going to try them in the late fall too. I think I'm going to yank them out now (taking too much space) and go to the plant shopping this weekend.

SweetPeas: Anybody have anyluck?
A friend gave me, pereannial sweetpeas.
They grow under a shrub, up to an archway over
a walkway and get bigger and higher each year.

My sweet peas are doing fine so far. This is my first year back home so I don't know if they will make it all summer or not. But in Washington state I grew them by the dozens. Don't be fooled by the location. It gets scorching hot and humid in Seattle in the Summer and I had them planted in full sun. I kept them well watered and staked and they bloomed like crazy. I staked each one individually and gave them lots of love and attention.

So far so good here but we will see how they do. I have planted them in an alcove to protect them from the wind and staked them. No blooms yet but I just planted them about a month ago. I try to plant a hand full every couple of weeks to extend the growing season and I have always had great success in the past.

Plant sweet peas early for best bloom. This might mean the autumn before the spring you want them. October or November for milder winter areas, and January for transplanting outside in cold areas. They need to be planted before the heat comes on, so get them into the ground before the heat arrives and as soon as the soil can be worked if direct seeding. Most are frost tolerant once they come up; the biggest enemies seem to be slugs and snails while growing, and aphids once they are flowering. While growing your peas, always keep them outside as much as you can, unless they are in danger of heavy snow or a hard rain that might beat the vines down. Keep the soil moist but not wet, and plant outside with supports if growing the climbing variety. Do not delay on slug and snail bait.

Ok, folks, I'm on the islands in Savannah, and I blew it too! But never fear, we're in this together. I think there are some seeds here from some generous GW people that I'll be planting in several weeks, and maybe I'll just be able to coax some blooms then. Need to get some supplies, and some assist in moving pots around, with this stupid no lifting restriction for 3 months. I wonder if one of my classmates from school might be avail for that one....lol.

Anyhow, sweet peas it is, this fall!
jeribelle

My sweet peas bombed the first 4 years. This year I planted them in April (last frost in our area is May 1.) I planted them to grow up through my Roses and this year they are blooming great! They have been blooming for a couple months, but are just now beginning to put on a real show.

Sweet peas grow for me. I plant them in November around Thanksgiving, in rich soil in a trench, seed soaked overnight. Full sun.

As they come up, I pull soil around the stems. They have a fence panel (heavy wire cow fencing) to grow on. I really think they'd like to have chicken wire or some kind of netting as there are many fine tendrils. They like some fertilizer along. Here they start blooming about the time the first spring bulbs are blooming.

If they're planted thickly, they have to be thinned. I plant mine far apart so I don't have to pull up any because I can't bear to take one away.

The trick to prolonged bloom is to keep them picked or deadheaded so they don't set seed. When the weather gets really warm, they will begin to decline.

Even if you only get a few plants, the sweet fragrance is worth the effort.

Gracious, I started this thread way back in '01...I can't believe it's still on the boards!

Anyway, I'm glad I saw it again because I'd completely forgotten about wanting to do a Sweet Pea experiment. I will let y'all know how this progresses over the winter.

Jeanni

For the last month I've been planting a couple of sweet peas seeds in 3 pots about every 10 days or so. Thus far, no germination. I have been using seeds from 3 different sources....I plan to sow a few more seeds this week, as the weather is getting progressively cooler. We'll see if the sweet pea gods will smile on Savannah.
jeribelle

Don't forget to plant those sweet peas guys!
I've been planting about every 7-10 days, just a couple of seeds each time, in 3 different pots. I have sweet peas a'sprouting! I've never grown them before, so I'm looking forward to what y'all are raving about.

jeribelle

I planted mine in early October and they are now about 6" high. I plant the "Old Spice" variety. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. A lot depends on the weather. So far it is abnormally warm here but maybe that will change. I've had good luck with this variety in the past and it has wonderful fragrance.

Thanks remindig us! I forgot to plant them in October, but I guess it is not too late as yet.

This is a cool thread. Y'all have inspired me to plant sweetpeas too. I planted three varieties today -- Old Spice, Winter Elegance mix and Matucana. I seeded them in 6-packs since the bed where I want to grow them has to have a bunch of annuals pulled out -- a project I plan to tackle next week.

When will they bloom? March? April?

The Select Seeds catalog offers about a dozen different kinds of sweet peas. Many of them are antique varieties.

Here's the link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Select Seeds

Sweetpea Update: The ones I planted in mid-November are just coming up. They're in a flat outdoors and get a half day of sun. As soon as they have two pairs of leaves, I'll plant them where I want them to grow.

My sweet peas are coming up, too. I planted them in situ at base of some evergreen shrubs like boxwood. I like to train them climb up to these bushes. Some peas are coming up at the base of climbing rose bushes, etc.

Another update: Today I set out the sweet pea seedlings and put up a trellis for them. The soil in the raised bed has been enriched with lots of manure, compost, organic fertilizer, lime,and sul-po-mag.

The seedlings have been outdoors in my lath house for the past month. They're about 6" tall. I am so anxious to see them in bloom.

My sweet peas, which I planted last October, are looking good at this point, probably 2 1/2-3 feet up the trellis and climbing hard. No blossoms yet but it's still early. This is the "Old Spice" variety, which I've had good luck with. My seeds were saved from my plants which did well 2-3 years ago.

Another update: I'm still waiting and hoping. The sweet peas seedlings planted in January have finally begun to show new growth. I fertilized them with Miracle Gro and seaweed last week. Some of the vines are about 10-12" long, others are shorter.

Sweet peas planted in November have started to stretch toward the fence and little tendrils are reaching out toward the wire. They're about 8-10 inches tall. They've had liquid fertilizer once and need more. The snapdragons nearby are full of buds just showing color.

Saylor, don't chop off their heads just yet, they're just getting going. Mine bloomed just after the tulips last year, and the tulips are just coming into bloom.

I see lots of naturalized flowering sweetpeas along US route 1 SE of Waycross GA, going towards Jacksonville, and they've been blooming the past few weeks. There are none in my neighborhood, though, less than a mile away. Although the soil and light conditions might lead to failure, I'm going to plant them here when nature would, i.e. whenver the pods dry out and drop the peas.

My Old Spice sweetpeas, which I planted last October, opened their first blossoms today. They're about 4 feet tall and climbing fast. I highly recommend this variety.

Another Update: My sweet peas are developing flower stems and some buds are showing color. I'm hoping last night's light frost didn't spoil the first blooms.

The vines are about 18" high. They really began growing quickly when the weather warmed up two weeks ago -- days around 70, nights about 50.

Some of the garden stores around here are selling 2-gallon pots of sweetpeas in bloom. Wow -- what an old fashioned fragrance.

Jeanni, my name is Bobbie, and I live in Statesboro, about 60 miles west of Savannah. My aunt, who lived here for years, has tons of sweet peas!
I decided to try this year, so I bought some in February, soaked them overnight, and planted them. There are a few little seedlings coming up.
Oh, my, I am nervous after reading all of these posts. Now I'm scared they'll die.
I planted them in the shade.

They have buds and some pink showing!

Hey, y'all! Man, Jeanni, you posted a good thread! It's been hanging on for a long time.
Some of the seeds I planted have sprouted and are growing. I soaked one pack in water the night before, but the others I just popped in the ground.
I think I might go buy another pack of seeds and soak them overnight and see what happens.

Aargh, these sweet peas aren't opening fast enough to suit me! I'm seeing a couple or three open last week and with luck, a few more this week. The varieties I planted are Matucana, Old Spice and Winter Elegance.

The frost of March 22 nipped the first batch of blooms, but did not hurt the plants.

Yes, I am keeping them well watered and fertilized, but they still seem to grow very slowly, even though I planted them back in November. The bed where they are planted is rich with horse manure and compost. I never let them dry out.

I could say the same about the Little Marvel edible peas that I planted back in January "as soon as the soil can be worked" (as it states on the seed packet.)

What's the secret to growing peas down here? I plant them early, but they stay small forever. They don't really reach a decent size until late April, by which time it's almost too hot for them.

My mom just told me that sweet peas like a limey soil. I think I'll do a pH test on the bed where my peas are planted. Maybe they're not blooming because the pH is too low.

Do sweet peas like a well-limed soil?

My first sweet peas just started blooming!

I also heard about sweet peas like lime. However, the most beautiful sweet peas I saw in the pacific Northwest (Seattle and Vancouver), and as far as I know PNW has acidic soil.

My Old Spice Salmon Pink/White colored sweet peas have topped out on my 8' trellis and are blooming profusely. We cut them every couple of days and bring them in the house to enjoy the fragrance. They'll probably last to the end of this month and the heat will get them. I've never found the cold that we get bothers them at all, but I'm in South Louisiana, with a minimum low of about 20 deg. F. I bought some seeds at Lowe's for an purple/violet Old Spice variety that I will try along with my pink ones next October at planting time.

The ones I planted last November grew to about 5'. They began blooming in early April and for the past two weeks have had lots of blooms. They were beginning to slow down in the heat and I pulled them out today to make room for zinnias.

Although their bloom time is short, I'm planning on growing them again next year. I'm captivated by the translucent winged blooms and they smell so sweet.

Downtown Baltimore here.
I planted my sweetpeas in large plastic containers. I started seedling back in February. My varieties included a couple of spencers (Jilly, April in Paris, Charlie's Angels, Renaissance) and Old Spice. They did the typical sitting around doing nothing until about April when they shot up. And of course the instant they started blooming in early May (I need to figure out how to get them to start blooming earlier), Baltimore gets hit with 85-90 degree weather. Not to be deterred, I stuck them under HID lighting in my sunny, air conditioned room...where they've been for about 2 weeks. I take them outside periodically when the temps get back in the 70's but that never happens. The nice thing is that they've been flowering and my room smells like sweet pea perfume. I do see a lot of bud drop though and that is discouraging. A lot of work for a month of sweet pea flowers but I say it's totally worth it. I wonder how long I can keep them going?

Ken

Not long, Ken, I'm afraid. Think of sweet peas as a special date -- something to look forward to, oh so sweet, soon over.

Mine have gone to seed.They were a real fragrance treat while we were waiting for the magnolias and gardenias to come into bloom.

NJ

It's time to plant sweet peas again.
Mine are already out of the ground.

{{gwi:1246352}}
See them in a little row just at the edge of the fence wire?
These are Park's Streamer Mix.

Nell

I live in Florida and I have planted MANY plants and sweet peas have been the easiest. Well them and potatoes. I planted them about a month ago, and they have bloomed and have pods already. I wonder how they will do in the hot summer heat!?!

I have 2 in the ground and 3 in pots in my greenhouse. The GH ones are doing better. This is the first time I've tried these guys myself and they're Parks streamer Mix also.
I saw sweet peas for the first time in years last May in a garden one zone lower than me and they were doing nicely in dappled shade.
I'm thinking I may transplant one of the GH ones into a new garden I've started and have them grow up the fence.
Barb

Hi, new here. I've been gardening from seed for several years, but this is the first year I've decided to try sweet peas. I have just now potted some up in peat pots, and I know they need a cool temp to germinate, so I have them in a room that stays at about 65F throughout the day. I figured to transplant them outside once the ground is just a little bit warmer, because we're still getting temps in the 30s at night here. Think I'll have any luck? I'd be happy with even a month of beautiful sweet pea blooms.

Here are the first blooms from the sweet peas planted last November.
They just happened to bloom in pink shades complimentary to the loropetalum.

They'll bloom through April, but the hot days of May will do them in eventually. They bloom longer if kept picked.

Merrybee, sweet pea plants will survive considerable freezing weather. These made it through 26 degree nights .

Pick pig, you're speaking of edible sweet Peas. They're a spring crop. Field peas will extend your pea season into the summer.

Nell

Hello, I have a large bed of Sweet Peas I WS and they only now starting to grow up (only at 8 inches or so) and I pinched them back a few weeks ago. Am I going to get any flowers out of them?! I know it's late for my area (late April and in NC) and I know they aren't going to last that long because it's going to get hot here soon. Is there any hope?! Thanks

-Vincent

As I understand it, the blooming of Sweet Peas has to do with the day length. Different varieties do better with shorter days. There are others that do better for hotter zones. See the link below for examples.

If you are having trouble with germination, try to knick the seed (scarification) and then soak it over night. I find it easiest to use nail clippers, but there are many methods. Instead of soaking the seeds in water you might try the paper towel method. I've also heard about using unbleached coffee filters instead of the paper towels, I thought I might try this year. You can use those moisture crystals (hydrated already) too.

In the hotter zones grow them in an area that gets plenty of morning sun but is protected from the hot afternoon sun. They should last longer that way. That coupled with choosing ones for warmer climates should help.

I started to grow sweet peas for my Mother. She has childhood memories of a neighbor growing loads of sweet peas in the summer in Phoenix, Az. I figure if they can grow there in the summer I should be able to get them to grow in Dallas. They begin their bloom around Mother's Day here which makes a wonderful boquet for her.

The link below also has a useful article called 'Prolonging Vase Life of Sweet Peas'.

Good luck everyone,
Tiffany

Here is a link that might be useful: Fragrant Garden Nursery