Never grown them, but have envied the posts about their sweetness and flowers.

Convince me!

Hi sue.

I need no convincing - they are a sweet (and very fragrant) memory of my childhood and I plan to grow them in the future. I just have to create the right space for them. Do you happen to know if they are relatively deer and woodchuck proof?

Thanks for the site btw. I will definitely be ordering in the future!
oh, and have you ws'ed them? Since they need to be planted very deep I was wondering how that would pan out.

I do love them, but I've yet to find out how to get a huge bunch of them in one place, to get the "big effect". But it's amazing how much scent one plant can give off. So I sow them even if I don't get the presentation I'd like from them. The scent more than makes up for it.

Linda

Convince me!

Bakemom,
Did you look at the site? I'd think browsing all their pages of their on line catalog would have convinced you.

I'm going to be getting an order together, and need to try and make up my mind...which is going to be quite hard.
Here are many of the things that describe several of the different varieties.

Gorgeous
Exceptionally strong and vigorous plants. The size of the flowers amazed visitors at our trials.
Large frilly flowers on long sturdy stems.
Flowers are somewhat smaller, but are borne in profusion.
reliable bloomer
Wonderfully fragrant
Large ruffled blooms on long, strong stems
Extremely fragrant sweet pea.
very large flowers. Excellent for garden growing and exhibition.
Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 2002.
blooms on a long strong stem
large and fragrant
A marvelous grower and an excellent cut flower.
Lovely show winning sweet pea
Popular at our summer trials
Blooms hold up well in the sun, resisting fade.
It won 2 first place prizes at the National Show in England. Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 1994
Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 1999
Hugh flowers make this sweet pea ideal for floral decorations. A winner on the show bench. Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 1994
One of the most popular sweet peas in England among exhibitors.
The color will not bleach or fade in the hottest sunshine. Flowers are gracefully waved.
a real eye catcher.
Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 1994
Vigorous plants. Long stems.
popular on the show bench. Spectacular color. Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 1998
Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 2000
Unusual color
long stemmed
Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 1996
Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 2004
Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials, 2002.
Superfine - Glittering salmon pink on white.

And those are just the descriptions on some of the whites and pinks.

Need I say more. How will I ever decide?

Sue

oh, and have you ws'ed them? Since they need to be planted very deep I was wondering how that would pan out.

I've never WS'ed them or ever even grown any myself.

The info from the link below suggest soaking the seeds to hasten germination, and/or slightly chip the seed on the opposite end of the eye. I'm thinking I may do both, and then sow them 1 1/2 -- 2" deep in the containers about early March.

lblack61,
When and how do you do yours in zone 5?

Do you happen to know if they are relatively deer and woodchuck proof?
I'm clueless. Sorry.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Getting Started and Germination

I just might try them again this year but will have to really think of where to place them. These would definitely be loved by deer, Linda. Peas are the first things to be devoured by the deers in our gardens! They pull the plants right out of the ground.

Chem,
I've Wsed them and direct sowed them. Both were successful.
I think I'm going to WS them this year. Perhaps if I use a large jug and sow several seeds in one jug, I could just cut the lid of the top of the jug, make the bottom holes bigger, and just set the hole thing in the ground...maybe that will help me get that "massing" affect.
I think I WSed them in Feb or March when I did them. I direct sowed them last year in Spring and in Summer-- but I think a lot of the seeds got eaten by non-pet critters or displaced by dogs and cats.

Linda

I wonder if the deer would actually go for sweet peas. Although in the same family as edible peas (Fabaceae), sweet peas are a different genus (Lathyrus) as opposed to Pisum for edible peas and as far as I remember the fruit of Lathyrus is actually poisonous. I don't know about the foliage and flowers, though.

I like the idea, Linda, of direct-sowing them and using a jug to protect them. Might just try that.

And now I'll take leave and go browse on the website Chem provided us all with!

Marianne

I never had very much success direct sowing them. I had the best success by planting 3-4 seeds in 16 oz recycled Styrofoam cups (soil nearly to the top) with an inverted plastic cocktail glass taped onto the top. If you plant too early the seeds will rot. When the plants are just a couple of inches tall, I plant the plugs close together to get the mass effect. Sweet peas do not like to have their roots disturbed so jugs do not work very well. They grow long roots before the leaves start to emerge, so deep cups are best. Unfortunately it has become a rare thing that Virginia has the cool, wet springs which allow the sweet peas to thrive.

Kathy, who is trying her best not to look at the hyperlink Sue posted

Oh Kathy, don't you deserve some eye-candy? Go take a look. Don't you really want to see those that earned the Award of Garden Merit, Wisley Trials for so many different years and how 'special' they must be?

Sue...hoping to find or enable some other addicts

Thanks also for the planting tips/ideas. I think I will start some numerous ways at numerous times

Sue, I found this thread while searching for info on winter sowing sweet peas, which I will be doing for the first time soon. I'm wondering what your experiences were. Did you find them easy to grow? (Assuming you were able to narrow down your selection and actually make a decision on what to order.)

Sue, last year I did a combo of "high scent" and "cupani". This year I'm doing "high scent" again and a mix from botanical interest called "singing the blues"
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Looking at all three I think I'll order cupani again!
I had alot of luck starting them in gallon nursery pots then once things got going I put them on the north side of the fence. Living up here in the cold cold north they stayed cool enough all summer long but I don't thing I'd try that any further south-they like cool roots like clematis.
-B

Oh are those some gorgeous pictures of sweet peas...I just love them.

I grew sweet peas for the first time last year...they were packages sold from Family Dollar 3/$1 or 33cents a pack. Here's a link to my blog with a picture of them towards the end of July after I did a massive cutting of them. There were just tons of blooms. I pulled them out in August, they were still blooming but got so top heavy and stringy they started to look a little too wild, but I think they might have lasted until fall had I left them.

http://pumpkinpatchquilter.blogspot.com/2010/01/let-winter-sowing-begin.html

I'm wondering what your experiences were. Did you find them easy to grow? (Assuming you were able to narrow down your selection and actually make a decision on what to order.)
I never ended up ordering any from that site, but 'might' sometime in the far off future.

I have yet to try and grow any. I have several varieties that now have some age on them and received in some wonderful new (to me) varieties from a recent swap. I will for sure be growing some this year, but am not sure just when or how I will start them. I might try a couple of different ways to assure I get some of the 'older' seeds going.

Sue...an awful procrastinator