The beautiful sweet peas add cheerful color accents to every garden with their brightly colored flowers. From June until well into autumn, the grateful climbing plants bloom and cover bare house walls and fences. In addition to the annual sweet peas, there are also perennial species that are also hardy.
Are sweet peas hardy?
Annual sweet peas (sweet peas) are not hardy and must be removed in autumn. Perennial perennial sweet peas, on the other hand, are hardy, robust and can survive cold temperatures. All you need is light winter protection in the form of twigs.
Annual sweet peas are not hardy
These sweet peas climb trellises up to two meters high within a few months and bloom in a fascinating spectrum of colors. Unfortunately, the splendor is gone in autumn, because sweet peas only thrive as annual plants.
Care in autumn
Don't cut off everything that has faded in the last weeks of autumn. This causes the vetch to produce seeds that you can harvest and use for breeding. After the first frosts, remove the dead plant parts and dig up the root balls completely.
If you would like to plant annual sweet peas in this spot again next year, you should enrich the soil with mature compost so that the Vicia has enough nutrients.
Perennial sweet peas
Perennial sweet peas are not true sweet peas, but belong to the pea family. Since the flowers of this perennial plant look deceptively similar to those of Vicia, these flowering plants are also known as vetches in our language.
The perennial vetch is hardy
The perennial vetch is very robust and absolutely hardy. If necessary, it is cut back a little in autumn, as the above-ground parts of the plant serve as protection from the cold. Only cut this vetch back close to the ground in spring to stimulate new growth.
Despite the perennial vetch being little affected by frost, it is recommended to install additional winter protection in very harsh regions. Twigs that you spread loosely over the plant are well suited.
Tip
You can tell whether the sweet pea growing in your garden is hardy or not by its scent, even as a layperson. The annual Vicia varieties exude an intoxicating aroma while the frost-resistant perennial sweet peas bloom without any discernible scent.
