The sweet pea is one of the most popular flowering vines, and for good reason. Its delicate flowers and enticing scent have been admired for a long time, and their colors range from soft pastels to deep jewel tones. This old-fashioned favorite does best in cooler weather and blooms a lot over a long period of time, making it a must-have in the cutting garden. A room will smell divine, like honey and orange blossoms, with even a small bouquet of these beautiful flowers.
Most sweet pea plants are tall climbers that grow quickly, but there are also shorter bush types that don’t need a trellis to support them. They grow small and slowly, making them perfect for garden beds, the front of the border, and outdoor containers.
Vine sweet peas can grow up to 10 feet tall, while bush sweet peas can grow up to 3 feet tall.
Sweet peas are one of the most popular annual flowering vines that gardeners love to grow for their beautiful, fragrant blooms. When properly cared for, sweet pea vines will reward you with months of gorgeous flowers in shades of white, pink, purple, red, orange, yellow and more.
But what do you do when those sweet pea blooms eventually fade and the vines stop flowering? Don’t rip them out of your garden just yet! Here’s a helpful guide to caring for sweet peas after flowering so you can get the most out of these lovely vines all season long.
Cut Back the Vines
Once your sweet peas have completed their first big flush of blooms, it’s time to give them a bit of a haircut Use a pair of gardening shears or scissors to cut back the vines by about 2/3rds their original length. This stimulates the plant to produce fresh, new foliage and blooms further down the stems
Cut each stem just above a set of leaves or tendrils Leaving those leaves intact allows the plant to continue photosynthesizing and making food to power new growth, Remove any dead or damaged stems entirely
Provide Support for New Growth
As you cut back those long, lanky sweet pea vines, it’s important to also provide some extra support for the forthcoming new growth. Add another row of trellising above the original set of trellis wires or strings. This gives the renewed vines something to climb up.
You can also switch to using individual hoop or grid-style plant supports at this stage to hold up each fresh stem. Place the supports over each cut back vine. This prevents the tender new growth from flopping over into a tangled mess.
Water and Fertilize Regularly
Snipping back those sweet pea stems stresses the plants a bit and prompts them to produce new blooms. To support all that fresh growth, your sweet peas need adequate water and nutrition.
Provide plants with around 1-2 inches of water per week, adjusting as needed based on your climate, rainfall and soil type. Water deeply and thoroughly at ground level to encourage strong roots.
Also feed plants every 2-3 weeks with a balanced liquid fertilizer or compost tea. This supplies essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium that fuel plant processes and healthy blooming.
Watch for Pests and Diseases
Unfortunately, stressed or older plants can be more vulnerable to infestations of common sweet pea pests like aphids, Japanese beetles, cabbage loopers and spider mites. Inspect plants closely and take prompt action at the first sign of an infestation.
Leaf spots, powdery mildew and other fungal diseases are also more prevalent on tired plants. Remove any infected foliage immediately to prevent spreading. Keep leaves dry to discourage fungi and apply neem oil or copper spray if needed.
Allow Time to Re-Bloom
Don’t expect instant gratification after cutting back your sweet peas. It can take some time for the vines to recover and start churning out new flower buds.
Be patient and allow 4-6 weeks for the plants to re-establish themselves. Continue providing ideal care during this period. The wait is well worth it for another round of those delightful, old-fashioned looking blooms.
Leave the Roots Over Winter
Here’s a great trick for getting a head start on next year’s sweet pea garden – leave those roots in place through winter! Sweet peas have taproots that penetrate fairly deep into the soil.
Rather than pulling up the roots after foliage dies back in fall, simply cut the dead vines off at ground level. Leave the root system intact. Then the following spring, thick vines and flowers will re-sprout quickly from those established roots.
Add Nutrients Back to the Soil
Allowing sweet pea roots to remain in place over winter provides more than just a jump start on growth. It also benefits your garden soil!
Sweet peas, like other legumes, have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria called rhizobia. These bacteria form nodules on sweet pea roots and convert atmospheric nitrogen into bioavailable forms that enrich the surrounding earth.
So leaving the roots intact allows them to continue improving and fertilizing your soil all winter long with free nitrogen. Just cut off any re-growth in fall or cover with mulch.
Plant a Cover Crop
If you don’t want to leave sweet pea roots in a garden bed all winter, the next best option is planting a nitrogen-fixing cover crop like clover or winter peas after you remove the vines.
The cover crop plant’s roots also bear rhizobial nodules that capture nitrogen. When you turn under the cover crop in spring, that free nitrogen gets incorporated right where your sweet peas will grow again next year.
Swap in Cool Weather Crops
Rather than leaving space open after finishing up sweet peas for the season, plant some fall and cool weather veggies or herbs in their place. Options like kale, carrots, lettuce, beets, arugula, spinach and parsley thrive in the cooler temperatures of late summer and fall.
Swapping these crops in keeps your garden productive. And the mature sweet pea roots left in place give the new plants an extra fertility boost. It’s a win-win!
Share With Other Gardeners
If you don’t have space to keep overwintering or replant your finished sweet peas, share the bounty! Carefully dig up full sweet pea roots and pot or bag them up.
Bring these to gardening friends, neighbors, schools or community gardens. The mature root systems give recipients a great head start on blooms next year. What a thoughtful gift for fellow gardeners!
Create Beautiful Bouquets
Here’s one more idea for making use of every last sweet pea bloom before your vines fade out for the season – bring them indoors! Cut some full stems and arrange them into a bouquet.
Group all one color together or make a multicolored display for maximum impact. Add in greenery and filler flowers from the garden too. Sweet peas look so lovely and charming in vintage vases or jars around the home.
Enjoy Multiple Seasons of Sweet Peas
With a little TLC after the initial spring bloom period, it’s easy to extend your enjoyment of sweet peas over an entire growing season and beyond.
Give those fading vines a good pruning. Keep them watered and fed. Allow time for abundant reblooming. And make plans to overwinter the roots or plant a cover crop to replenish your soil for next year’s sweet pea garden.
So don’t despair when those first vibrant sweet pea blossoms disappear. With proper care, you can keep those vines blooming happily year after year. The sweet scent and beauty of fresh sweet peas will grace your garden for seasons to come!
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How do I harvest sweet pea flowers for the longest vase life?
The owner of Floret Flower Farm, Erin Benzakein, says to choose stems that have at least two unopened flowers at the very end. Also, pick the flowers early in the morning, before the sun dries them out, and put them right into a vase of clean water. The more flowers you pick, the more your plants will produce, so keep harvesting them regularly. A bouquet of sweet peas can last as long as a week if you change the water daily.
Flower colors and characteristics:
Sweet peas come in almost every color but yellow. They bloom in pink, red, maroon, purple, lavender, salmon, and white as well. Some cultivars have bicolored, streaked, or picotee-edged blooms. The flowers are borne in clusters on sturdy stems, with three to six or more flowers per stem.
- Tolerates light frost
- Deer resistant
- Attracts bees, butterflies, and other pollinators
Photo by: Paul Burr / Shutterstock.
Native to the Mediterranean, sweet peas are happiest when grown in full sun (at least 6 hours daily). In warmer climates, they can benefit from a bit of afternoon shade to help keep them cool.
For sweet peas to grow well, you need to plant the seeds early, when it is still cool outside. If you live in Zone 8 or warmer, sow seeds in late fall for early spring blooms. In colder climates, sow in early spring as soon as the ground can be worked.
You can buy sweet pea plants and grow them, but if you start your plants from seeds, you’ll have a much wider range of cultivars to choose from. Sow the seeds in furrows 1 inch deep, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart. Water thoroughly, and keep the soil moist until the seeds have sprouted. Expect germination to take 12 to 28 days, depending on the soil temperature.
Cut holes in the hard seed coats with a nail clipper before planting or soak the seeds in water for 24 hours to make it easier for water to get through when they are germinating.
Note: Save the seeds from your sweet peas. Leave the flowers alone until they die and let the seed pods grow. Check seed pods often, and harvest them after they turn brown and brittle. You need to catch them before they open and drop their seeds, but not before… if you do, the seeds won’t grow. Pop open the seed pods, remove the seeds, and allow them to dry for 2 to 3 days. After that, put them somewhere cool and dry to plant again next year or freeze them for at least 5 years.
Start sweet pea seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost date to make them bloom for longer. Put two or three seeds in a biodegradable pot filled with all-purpose potting mix that doesn’t need soil. Keep the soil evenly moist, and place the pots in a brightly lit location or under grow lights. As soon as the ground stops being frozen, move the plants from the pots straight into the garden. This way, you won’t disturb the roots. A light frost will not damage newly planted seedlings.
Because sweet peas are susceptible to powdery mildew, sufficient spacing of plants is important for good air circulation. After the seedlings are about 4 inches tall, space them at least 6 inches apart.
Attach some heavy-duty polypropylene netting, string, or wire mesh to vertical stakes that are spaced a few feet apart. Then, let the tendrils weave through the grid to make a lattice wall of sweet pea vines. As the vines grow, you can secure any stray or wayward shoots to the support using garden twine. Since sweet peas grow quickly, make sure you put up your supports when you plant them. Learn more: Growing and Arranging Sweet Peas.
Cupani sweet peas. Photo by: pjhpix / Shutterstock.
Sweet pea plants need consistent watering, especially during dry spells. Water plants often enough to keep the soil evenly moist but not soggy. If it doesn’t rain enough, give plants about an inch of water every week. It’s best to water your plants at soil level or with a drip irrigation system to keep mildew from growing. Also avoid watering in the late afternoon and evening.
Sweet peas thrive in rich soil, so work in plenty of compost and organic matter before planting. They also need regular fertilization throughout the growing season to keep the blooms coming. Avoid using nitrogen-rich fertilizers, which will promote leaf growth instead of flowering. Instead, use a fertilizer higher in potassium or phosphorus, such as a blend formulated for tomatoes.
When young sweet pea plants have four to six leaves, cut back the growing tips by an inch or two. This will make the plants grow bushier and give them more flowering side shoots. Once your sweet peas start blooming, do not let the flowers go to seed. Regularly cut them back or remove the spent flowers to encourage more flowers and keep your plants looking their best. If you want to save seeds for next year, you can leave some seedpods on the plant near the end of the growing season.
Sweet peas can be susceptible to aphids, thrips, garden slugs, and powdery mildew. Birds can also be a threat and may eat tender young seedlings and transplants. To protect your plants, place plastic berry baskets or bird netting over them until they are more mature.
Sir Jimmy Shand sweet pea. Photo by: Andrew Fletcher / Shutterstock.
Looking for annual sweet peas? You can find a huge variety of choices in seed catalogs and online. These include new hybrids and heirloom varieties that have been grown for hundreds of years. Let us look at some of the most common types of sweet peas and what makes each one special to help you decide.
Spencers are valued for their big, frilly flowers, long stems, and many different colors and patterns, such as bicolored, streaked, and picotee types. They are called “summer flowering” sweet peas, which means they need at least 12 hours of daylight to bloom. Their performance might not be good in warmer places, where summers get too hot before the 12 hours are up. “Sir Jimmy Shand,” a Spencer variety, has creamy white flowers with lilac accents and picotee edges. It is one of the most beautiful types.
The petals of grandifloras are smooth or slightly wavy, not ruffled like those on Spencers. They are some of the sweet peas with the best scent. Newer grandiflora hybrids have bigger flowers and longer stems than the original heirloom varieties, but they still have the strong scent and colorful blooms. This makes them great for cutting. You could try the variety called “Almost Black,” which has lots of dark maroon flowers that smell great, or “Erewhon,” which has dark lavender-blue and soft pink petals.
Sometimes called “winter flowering” sweet peas, these types flower with as few as 10 hours of day length. If you live in the warm South, these plants are great because you can get them to bloom before the summer heat gets too bad. Most often sold as part of a series, such as Winter Sunshine and Winter Elegance.
Dwarf and semi-dwarf bush-type sweet peas grow close together and look good in garden borders, window boxes, and pots. Dwarf varieties, such as the Cupid series, reach a height of only 8 to 10 inches. Some types, like Explorer and Knee High, are semi-dwarf (also called “intermediates”) and grow to be 2 to 3 feet tall.
Photo by: Andrew Fletcher / Shutterstock.
What to do with your Sweet Peas once they have finished flowering
FAQ
What do you do with sweet peas when they finish flowering?
Should I remove sweet pea pods?
How do you save sweet pea seeds for next year?
Do sweet pea flowers come back every year?
When do sweet peas stop flowering?
For Lathyrus odoratus annuals, you do not need to do anything to the plant when sweet peas have finished flowering. Once the hot weather sets in, the plant will naturally die back. Remove blossoms as soon as they fade to keep the plant from forming seed pods. The production of pea pods often triggers the plants to stop flowering entirely.
Can you cut a sweet pea flower?
Cutting your own sweet peas is very rewarding. Simply cut the flower stem at the base where it connects to the stem. If you’re not collecting sweet pea flowers for vases and bouquets, ensure to deadhead any spent blooms, which will encourage the plant to produce more flower buds. Sweet peas are relatively resilient plants.
When does a sweet pea flower?
Sweet pea flowering time depends on your climate. These plants prefer cooler temperatures and will start to fade in high heat. Areas with cooler summer temperatures can expect flowers in late spring (May or June) or fall (September or October). Warmer regions can expect flowers in winter and spring. Sweet pea plants are light-sensitive.
Do sweet peas need to be watered?
If it’s moist, there’s no need to water the plant, but if it’s dry, it’s time to give the plant a drink. Because sweet peas originated in the Mediterranean, they can handle an occasional chill but do best if planted after the last frost and in warmer temperatures in USDA zones 3-8.
Can you grow sweet peas from seed?
Deadhead the spent flowers to encourage continued blooming. Sweet peas are best grown from seeds; however, you can use seedling cuttings if you do not have seeds yet and want to produce more plants. The cuttings will catch up to soil-grown plants if taken in the early spring.
Do sweet peas come back every year?
Lathyrus odoratus is an annual sweet pea plant that is very fragrant and does not come back every year. Lathyrus latifolius is a perennial sweet pea plant; it is not scented but will return yearly. What month do sweet peas flower?