Help with sweet peas

Help! I yearn for sweet peas, but my efforts last year were met with tiny, straggly vines and maybe three blooms total. This year, I dug out beds 6-8" down by edging out some lawn (it's really clay and rock below that), added some lime, manure, compost. It's mostly full sun where I put them (some get mid-day shade), on a slope, against a high wire fence. Does anyone have suggestions for this year or future efforts?

P.S. I'm new to this list, so if this has been discussed in detail before, just point me in the right direction.

That sounds like a good spot to me. I don't know what area you live in though. I'm near Cincinnati and I have 2 nice "clumps" of sweet peas going now. I planted them on a slight slope and in heavy clay. They get full sun. Last year they did very well. They look even better this year. These are the perennial variety I have and they are pretty tough. One of them I grew from seed and the other one I dug up from my wife's grandma's house. It was very neglected and grew rather well at her grandma's. I figured if they would grow there, they would grow at my house. So far so good. I hope to have some pictures of the blooms this year. Maybe I'll take a picture of how it looks right now too. Will post it on here later.

This message was edited Friday, Apr 25th 12:54 PM

Here it is. Larger one on the right and smaller plant on the left. Plant on left (behind coreopsis) is from seed...maybe 2 or 3 years old.

Sorry, I thought it was posted automatically. Maybe it will be now. Anyway, it's zone 5a--in the hills above the Delaware. But I'm pretty sure mine are annuals--I ordered a bunch of heirloom varieties from SelectSeeds. Thanks for the photos. I wish mine looked like that

Get some of the perennial type. They grow well and bloom like crazy once they get some size on them.

I have heard that the perennial sweet pea variety can be very invasive, I would recommend researching it thoroughly before planting it. I have heard a lot about it in this forum - why not run a search.

I have the perennial one too but I always grow the annual ones too. I like the annual ones because they smell wonderful. My perennial ones stay in the same spot and don't seem to go any where but up thank goodness.

I like the annual ones too because I find the smell intoxicating. Morningglory, when do you want yours? Where? How's your success? Should I try putting the seeds in in the fall?

hczone6, thanks for the perennial recommendation. I'll look it up.

I guess it depends on where you plant it and how well you take care of it as to whether it gets invasive or not. It can't get out of control where I have it. Plants don't last very long in my garden if they don't behave. If they act up, I rip them out...like I did after only 2 years of bamboo. I won't do that again. The sweet peas I have was in the same place at a relative's house and it stayed put for years on end. It did have a huge root almost like a tree...but other than that, it looked like a normally perennial vine above ground.

I have to tell you all that after my experience with perennial sweet peas, I would never plant another. I grew some from seed and planted on my bank around a transplanted dead tree (for the birds) . It spreads like crazy, coming up at least 15 feet away. I tried to tie it to the trunk of the dead tree, thinking it would be pretty. It did bloom, but i could not get it to grow upwards only wanted to spread out from tree. So two years ago I started trying to get rid of it. I have sprayed it (them) several times with RoundUP, only slowed it down. So last spring I started trying to dig it out. No wonder it spreads, what a root system. There is still lots of it and I am still spraying and digging!!!!! Donna

Wow...sounds like my bamboo experience...hehe But at least I was able to pull the bamboo out as long runners...kinda yanked it right out of the ground, like pulling a splinter out from under your skin...horizontally. I guess the sweet pea in my location is just strong enough to do well, but not go crazy. I don't know how much paying attention does or doesn't play a role into people's 'out-of-control' experiences...but for me, I walk the garden usually every single day...wherever I have something planted. I never plant something that is even slightly invasive in an area that I can't keep an eye on. The sweet pea is right outside my door...maybe 20' from my house...growing up on a fence. It clings to the fence pretty well. I have to tell you, I have yet to find a plant that is any match for my shovel. If something gets too friendly with neighboring plants, I either remove it completely and then watch for re-growth...or I trim some of it off and see what happens. I pitched an artemisia because of invasiveness...also a crown vetch. In both of those cases, any little root left resulted in another plant popping up. But it was no big deal because I'd see it coming up and he'd be history. Maybe I just have more time than other people to watch for things like this? I don't know. The moral of the story for invasive plants (in my garden) is, stick your head up after I've pulled you up once before and it's certain death. The shovel shall overcome. Resistance is futile. :)

Now, my father-in-law is another case. I warn him about certain plants...and he either ignores the advice or forgets about it. He has ribbon grass that I gave to him awhile back and it's spreading like crazy in his beds. I have to look at it and shake my head. I'm sure I'll hear him complaining about it before long, but I told him...and there it sits...growing like a weed. I moved mine out into the lawn in my "grass garden". I can mow around it so it won't get out of control.

Next on the list of plants in my garden likely to meet their maker is: ajuga. I'm tired of trimming it back. I can see what his fate is now. Ripped up...very little soil clinging to his roots...thrown into the lawn to bake in the sun for a few days...then along comes Mr. Craftsman with his 20HP V-Twin, 46" cut and 3 blades to finish the job. Such is the life of an invasive plant in my garden.

Addition:
When removing plants because of invasivness, I usually don't wait for them to run wild. If I see that they are runners instead of clumpers and they're running really fast the first season or two, I usually don't wait for them to get out of control. I either move it where it can be managed, or I get rid of it. The ajuga is in this category. I'm just going to get rid of it. On the flip-side...I have an evening primrose that is very aggressive...but he clumps and doesn't run. I may have to whack off a piece here and there, but that's easy to do. It's the running plants I don't like.

This message was edited Monday, Apr 28th 7:45 AM