A Sicilian annual with a strong scent
The sweet pea hails from Sicily and neighbouring parts of southern Europe and the Aegean. Each plant is a one-year scrambler that tops out at one to two metres if you give it a trellis, twining its tendrils round whatever it can find. The wild flower is purple; the garden forms are larger and come in nearly every shade except true yellow. The scent is the reason people grow it.
The classic is a mixed bunch, which is how Victorian gardeners knew it after Henry Eckford crossed and selected hundreds of cultivars.
Growing sweet peas in Australia
- Sow in autumn in mild southern areas, March to May, for spring flowers. Cooler highlands often wait until late winter.
- Soak or nick the hard seeds first.
- Pick a sunny site with something to climb, and nip off the growing tips so the plant bushes out.
- Keep picking, because pods that set seed slow the flowers down.
Heat shortens the season. In Sydney, Perth and Adelaide, plants usually fade by early summer; in Brisbane they are best sown in the cooler months; in the tropical north they are a dry-season crop at best.
Cut stems of sweet peas
Stems last about three to five days. Keep them away from ripening fruit in the bowl, because sweet peas are sensitive to ethylene, which speeds up fading.
A careful note
Eating the seeds in quantity is harmful. Do not mix this up with the entry headed Sweet Pea at the ASPCA, which covers perennial pea (Lathyrus latifolius) and flags it for horses rather than for dogs or cats. Keep pods well out of reach.
