Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea (Lathyrus Odoratus) - Perhaps the most precious annual plant grown. There are many ways in which it may be prettily used in a garden. A common method is to sow little patches in borders, the seed being generally that of mixed varieties, and by placing some stakes against them, to secure pillars of flower. Where it can be done, a hedge of Sweet Peas is an attractive sight, and sometimes Sweet Peas can be used to hide an unsightly place during the summer. Many people grow a hedge of Sweet Peas in order to yield a supply of cut flowers, but it is useless to grow the Sweet Pea except in good soil. Some sow in late autumn; this is not always satisfactory, though, when it succeeds, the result is good. By sowing indoors in pots or boxes about the middle of February, and gradually hardening off the young plants when they are 1 inch high, Sweet Peas may be made to acquire a sturdiness and toughness which, when they are planted out in good well-manured soil in April, conduces to rapid growth and to immunity from birds and slugs, which would otherwise attack the tender shoots the moment they appeared above the ground. The soil should be well trenched, and plenty of good stable manure should be worked in; and after the plants have been rather thickly dibbled in, supports of hazel stakes or netting should be placed round them. Then, with a little attention during dry weather and the regular removal of incipient pods, they yield abundance of beautiful and fragrant flowers all through the summer and autumn. When getting past their best they should be cut down level with the top of the sticks, and the result will be that from the bottom to the top a new growth will spring up, and there will be an abundance of bloom until the end of October. There are now many fine varieties of the Sweet Pea, varying chiefly in color.