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Unsure what to do with perennial sweet peas

Pink678Pink678 Posts: 498
edited July 2023 in Problem solving
I have some perennial sweet peas which I didn't realise were there, and this year they surprised me with lots of flowers.  By the time I noticed all the flowers, they were growing sideways and over bushes, and looked pretty, so I left them like that rather than staking them up vertically.
There are now some large pods. I don't know if it is worth taking the pods off to encourage more flowering, or if there won't be any more flowers now anyway?
I was wondering what to do with the whole plant now - whether I should cut it close to the ground and discard all the greenery, and when I should do that?   Do the sweet peas then regenerate themselves from the root material in the ground next year?
The first picture is of the flowers from about 4 weeks ago. The second picture is the pods as they look now. The last picture is of the whole plant - it's hard to see, but it's kind of an L shape of the lighter green foliage, all flopped horizonally (the trellis I only put up a few days ago!).
I would very much appreciate any advice.



Posts

  • BiljeBilje Posts: 811
    I have several perennial sweet peas. They can belittle devils to keep tidy. I catch them as soon as I can and try to keep them tethered to the fence trellis, invariably some shoots escape my attention and end up clambering over other plants. If they’re too unruly they get chopped off.
    Im in NE England and mine continue to flower over the summ, for some degree of tidiness I cut of the seed heads. The plants die back in Autumn/ Winter and the old stems get shoved in the compost heap. Mine have always survived winter and commence growing in lateSpring. 
  • Pink678Pink678 Posts: 498
    edited July 2023
    Thank you, I was feeling a little ashamed by how untidy they are!
    So maybe I should leave the plant as it is, and snip off all the seed heads hoping for more flowers this year.
    Then after that maybe I should leave the plant as is, and let the whole plant die back in autumn/winter ... what month should I cut all the plant material all off and put it in the compost?
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    edited July 2023
    I take off all the pods and yes, the reflower. I pinch out the tops too to keep the vines to about six ft. They make good cut flowers.
  • Pink678Pink678 Posts: 498
    Oh good, so it's not too late for more flowers hopefully. I'll take the pods off then.
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    At the end of the season you can leave some pods if you want to save seed.
  • Pink678Pink678 Posts: 498
    Ah good to know, I might do that.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    But we aware the seeds do end up appearing in parts of the garden you don't want them. So collecting the seeds as @SalixGold says to sow out next year where you would like them but otherwise cut off the seed pods. As it says they are perennials and will come back next year after dying down in the autumn.
  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    The plant is astonishingly hard to get rid of once established and takes quite a lot of water to grow well (I find). It's an odd combination.
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