Sweet peas pass look, smell test
Some flowers look beautiful; some smell good. Still others manage to accomplish both.
Sweet peas — along with lilacs, for example, and certain lilies — rank with the multitasking superstars that please both nose and eye.
These springtime classics are not hard to grow, and, because they’re best raised from seed, are about as cheap as flowers come. Sweet peas, aka
— which are not related to culinary peas and, in fact, are poisonous — have been bringing joy to gardens and gardeners’ hearts for centuries.
Today they are riding a new wave of popularity, perhaps because folks are rediscovering heirloom plants and old-fashioned gardening traditions.
In any case, if you’d like to try them in your garden, now’s the time.
They’re considered hardy annuals, so a light frost doesn’t faze them. The cool, moist conditions of spring suit them just fine.
To get started, choose a planting site that receives full sun or mostly sun.
Because sweet peas are heavy feeders, add compost or aged manure to the soil before planting.
And because the plants are vines that can reach more than 6 feet tall, set up a structure for them to climb.
(Confession: I’ve waited till they started growing to erect a support — and ended up wrestling with unwieldy bamboo stakes and delicate but uncooperative vines. Please learn from my mistake and set up your sweet-pea trellis at planting time.)
Whether you sow directly in the garden or start seeds indoors and transplant later, seeds will sprout faster if you treat their tough outer coat.
Some gardeners soak the seeds overnight in plain tap water; others nick the coats with sandpaper or nail clippers — either technique works. Thankfully, the relatively large size of the seeds makes them easier to handle than most.
When seedlings are about 6 inches tall, pinch or snip the main stem to encourage branching and fuller growth. Blooms in pink, lavender and red reach for a blue spring sky. Gracefully drooping buds will soon open into show-stopping flowers.
You might need to nudge them to get started on their netting or trellis, but after they get the idea, they’ll take off. Once established, they grow rapidly and require steady moisture, so plan to water if rains are not consistent.
Next — drumroll, please — here come the flowers.
And what captivating flowers they are! Blossoms range from purest white to deep, dramatic purple, with pink, red, lavender and coral in between.
They come in solids, Can’t decide which color to plant? Consider a variety with two-tone flowers.
stripes and bicolors, and forms include singles, doubles and all manner of ruffles.
As for the scent, fans often liken it to honey and oranges. I would describe it as sweet but not cloying. However the aroma strikes you, a handful of blooms in a vase will bring an ethereal perfume to a nightstand or kitchen counter.
Which brings us to the wonderful irony of annuals such as sweet peas: The more flowers you cut, the more the plants produce.
Do not let the flowers fade and go to seed on the vines — or that will be the end.
In summer heat, the vines often stop flowering and even start to brown and wither. Steel yourself and yank them out.
You’ll certainly plant them again next spring, because once you’ve tried sweet peas, you always want more.