Sweat Pea - Discussion

This year I am growing the following varieties -

For cutting/vases

Spencer Mixed
Old Fashioned Mixed
Beaujolais
Swan Lake
Cuthbertson

In hanging baskets

Bijou

The bijou gives small blooms and scent when walking from inside out into the garden.

All the others give nice long and mostly straight blooms with good scent.

However, only around one in six has more than one flower per stem and I was wondering is it due to the variety or growing conditions?

What varieties are you currently growing and what is the ratio of stems with more than one flower to those with just one?

Steve...

 

I have been growing perennial sweet pea on a large wall trellis for a couple of years.
If you like purple and deep pink blooms - you can have vases full the whole summer- in my opinion the flowers are as delicate as the annual varieties.
Once flowering cut right down to ground level and with the first hint of Spring the following year, you can´t stop it - very robust!

 

I've had some of these for years and they are beautiful. However they don't really have a scent.

 

"However, only around one in six has more than one flower per stem and I was wondering is it due to the variety or growing conditions?"

I don't think any of mine are producing one-flower-per-stem ... all mine are grown as a cordon (side shoots taken out). Most of them as a single cordon, some as a double cordon [as an experiment]. Don't know if that makes a difference, or is different to what you are doing?

 

Yes, quite right, if it´s scent you are after - perennial sweet peas are not the answer - but the colour... and very easy to grow - fill up a large space to with summer colour.

 

Perennial sweet peas also come in white, as well as the usual purple/pink variety. I a friend gave me seeds of what she thought were from her perennial peas...but they're now blooming in other shades than white or pink!

 

I autumn sowed mine, and followed advice to pinch out the tips to encourage plants to become bushy, So not cordon grown this time.

Perenials aside ( no scent ) what varieties are you all growing?

Steve...

 

Does anyone have recommendations for varieties?

Steve...

 

I have some hanging basket sweet peas - called 'sugar and spice'. Like all sweet peas, our slugs love them and will climb to get at them, so slug repellant is vital.

They've grown quite well in the basket where they are the only variety of plant, but set seed readily. Once they begin to set seed, they stop flowering, so its essential to dead head them regularly to get planty more flowers.

 

i have had the best yield ,this year from my sweet peas. 3 years ago i sectioned a piece of my fence,with about 16 feet x 6 feet high with mesh.i also built a 16 foot x 2 foot base with old decking,and filled it with compost.the first year the yield was ok. the 2nd year ,much better,but this year it has been (fantastic).3 days ago i had to build an extra 2 feet (HIGH) as the sweet peas had outgrown the 6 foot high fence. looking out the window ,at this moment,that 2 foot extention is overtaken and they are starting to curve over to the next garden.they are now standing 8 feet tall
and the bloom ,and the fragrance is superb. i will let you know the name of the plants,
WHEN I FIND THE MARKER!!!. SUCCESS AT LAST!!!. music.

 

I'm growing Spence Mixed and they have a wonderful scent, they're not overly tall and are producing 2-3 flowers on each stem. First year I've grown them from seed and I've only put out 6 plants but they're doing really well. They're not planted in the right place (don't get much sun during the day) but they're in my 3 year olds flower bed and he thinks they're wonderful and so far they seem pretty much kid proof

 

the name of the sweet peas i was refering to previously ,was (ROYAL MIXED).
highly scented ,large flowers,during summer on long stems in a variety of colours.excellent for cutting to fill the house with perfume- the more you cut,the more they flower.will tolerate a few degrees of frost .position sunny in fertile,well-drained soil. i can recommend them. music.