Annuals & Biennials

Lathyrus
sweet pea

- Height 4-120 in (10-300 cm)
- Planting distance 6-10 in (15-25 cm)
- Flowers late spring to early fall, or winter in South
- Well-drained medium loam, ideally slightly alkaline
- Sunny site
- Hardy annual

A favorite of our grandparents' day, the sweet pea deserves a revival since it is not only a beautiful flower but also a versatile one. Planted against a wall, fence or another plant, it may climb to a height of 10 ft (300 cm). It can be grown up through a circle of interlaced twigs in a vegetable patch to provide cut flowers. Or it can be grown without support in a mixed annual border - dwarf cultivars look most effective beside such cottage-garden plants as clarkias, candytufts, and cornflowers. This plant prefers cool weather; in temperate areas such as the Pacific Northwest, it blooms in early summer and, if deadheaded, may continue flowering until early fall. Elsewhere, the plant fades in hot weather; in the South it is best cultivated as a winter flower. Sweet peas come in a range of colors - reds, pinks, salmons, purples, and white, either one color or bicolored. Most are scented, some more than others.

Popular species and cultivars
All sweet pea cultivars grown in the garden are developed from Lathyrus odoratus. While many different ones have been introduced over the years, the distinctions between them are slight. For convenience, sweet peas may be divided into a few groups.
Dwarf cultivars, reaching 4-42 in (10-105 cm) high, can be grown without supports. Use them at the front of borders or to fill window boxes and containers. The following are dwarf cultivars.
'Bijou Mixed' produces bushy plants 15 in (38 cm) tall with flowers that range in color from scarlet to blue, white, pink, and salmon.
'Continental Mixed,' up to 3-31/2 ft (90-105 cm) high, bears fragrant flowers of mixed colors. Because it requires no staking to stand upright, it is ideal as a fast-growing and colorful small hedge.
'Jet Set Hybrids' have sweetly scented frilled flowers in a wide range of colors. They reach 3 ft (90 cm) high.
'Pink Cupid' has large (up to 11/2in/3 cm wide) bicolored flowers in shades from bright carmine to white. It grows to a height of 4-6 in (10-15 cm) and has a spread of 11/2 ft (45 cm).
'Super Snoop' has waved flowers in a range of colors, carried on long stems, making them suitable for cutting. The plants are with-out tendrils and grow with a neat habit up to 21/2-3 ft (75-90 cm) high.
Galaxy cultivars are tall, vigorous cultivars, reaching 6-10 ft (180-300 cm) high. Grown for their early, long-lasting display, they produce numerous large flowers in a wide range of colors and are offered as 'Galaxy Hybrids.' These plants need to be trained on tall supports.
Old cultivars have largely been replaced by the more robust, bigger-flowered Spencer cultivars. Available now mainly in seed mixtures ('Old-Fashioned Mixed'), they have small, dainty flowers with a strong, sweet fragrance. Train up a wall, fence, pergola, or pea sticks - they grow 6-10 ft (180-300 cm) high. Another group of old cultivars is the 'Multiflora Hybrids.' Multifloras, up to 6 ft (180 cm) high, carry five or six ruffled flowers on each stem.
Spencer cultivars, the most commonly grown climbing sweet peas, carry four or five particularly large blooms on each stem. Reaching up to 10 ft (300 cm) high, they are effective as climbers and suitable for garden decoration, cutting, and exhibition. A few have a strong scent.
'Anniversary' has soft white flowers edged with rose-pink and is delicately scented.
'Blue Danube' is a blue-flowered cultivar with frilled petals.
'Butterfly Hybrids' have cream or white flowers marked, streaked, and edged with red, pink, orange, blue, or purple.
'Elizabeth Taylor' has clear, rich purple flowers.
'Hunter's Moon' bears sweetly scented lemon-cream flowers.
'Leamington' has deep lavender-blue flowers with a sweet scent.
'Maggie May' bears wavy-edged, strongly fragrant blooms of sky-blue flushed with white.
'Mrs. R. Bolton' has blossoms of a delicate pale pink that shades almost to white.
'Noel Sutton' is rich blue-purple and has a very strong fragrance.
'Pageantry' bears large flowers of dark (almost black) red-purple.
'Pennine Floss' is strongly scented and has re-purple wavy flowers.
'Princess Elizabeth' has cream to salmon-pink flowers.
'Red Ensign,' a strong grower, has scented deep scarlet flowers.
'Rosy Frills' has white flowers with frilled petals edged deep rose-pink.
'Superstar' bears lightly fragrant, wavy-petaled blossoms of deep rose-pink veined with white.
'White Supreme' has strongly scented pure white flowers.
'World's Children' is free flowering, with long-stemmed flowers bicolored in fiery red and orange.

Annuals
and
Biennials