Thanks, everyone... this was a new experiment, so I guess I will just have to hope that they grow a bit more! I am actually in SW PA near Pittsburgh, and we have fairly hard winters (fairly cold, but not a ton of snow). We are just off a river, too, so the cold winds do a number on my outlying garden! I haven't had too much luck with fall sowing, though some sunflowers came up this spring. I can certainly *try* it, though! Part of the problem here was a really late snow and ice patch right around Easter- a lot of stuff froze off and is doing poorly. I planted these well after that, but they just don't seem to be doing well. They look healthy enough, green and such, but just aren't growing. I had hoped to train them over a larger trellis, but at this rate they may not even get past the one footer I have them on now. The weather has been pretty sunny and warm (70s and 80s), and I have watered just about daily when we have a stretch without rain. They get full sun for most of the day... Thanks for the advice, I will keep an eye on them!

Yes, I plant sweet peas almost every year, usually at one end or the other of one of my regular rows of peas. The major "problem" with them is the weather. They are kind of a gamble here. If it's a cool to average year, they are fine and can be very beautiful. If its a hot year, they may fizzle out prematurely without having many flowers. The other problem with them is critters. I have had them chewed up pretty badly by woodchucks or rabbits, but this doesn't seem to happen ever time, so I think there are other things that animals might prefer. The earlier you plant them, the better they seem to do -- sow as soon as the soil can be worked. As long as the summer isn't excessively hot (upper 80s and 90s), if you dead head them, they'll bloom quite a bit longer.

yeah It's been cold on my end too. I'm waiting for a good warming to start off the seeds. I get my sweetpeas from a company that sells heirloom seeds. Their plants are so fragrant and so bright. I was wondering about experimenting on sweet peas. Since they do well only in cool weather and start looking old by summer, I was wondering what if I plant them again in late august so that by sept and early oct. I would have flowes again? I just wonder. it may work.What do you think?

I grow 'Old Spice' every year, started out with a pkt. and have saved seeds ever since. They like rich soil (unlike edible peas)so I make sure their site has had some compost or aged manure the previous fall. I plant them about two weeks after I plant edible peas, which would be sometime in April--mid to late Apr. If it is cold, they take longer to germinate and start growing. Overall they grow pretty slow until things warm up. I usually soak the seed overnight before planting. They really take off by June and start flowering then or in July. They don't like the hot weather, but if you keep picking them, they will continue to grow and blossom all summer. If you neglect them and they go to seed, they will start to look ratty and stop growing/turn yellow. Water them once in a while if it's really dry, esp. when they are young. They seem fairly drought-tolerant after that. The bouquets are wonderful because of their fragrance. But if you have a woodchuck or something eating them soon as they sprout, there's not much you can do. Besides get rid of the woodchuck.