With their brightly colored flowers, the beautiful sweet peas set cheerful color accents in every garden. From June until well into autumn, the grateful climbing plants bloom and entwine bare house walls and fences. In addition to the annual sweet peas, there are also perennial species that are also hardy.
The perennial vetch is absolutely hardy
Annual sweet peas are not hardy
Within a few months, these sweet peas climb trellises up to two meters high and bloom in a fascinating spectrum of colours. Unfortunately, the splendor is gone in autumn, because sweet peas only thrive as annual plants.
fall care
In the last few weeks of autumn, do not cut off everything that has faded. As a result, the vetch produces seeds that you can harvest and use for breeding. After the first frosts, remove the dead parts of the plant and completely dig up the root balls.
If you would like to plant annual vetch at this point again next year, you should enrich the soil with mature compost so that the vicia can find enough nutrients.
Perennial vetch
Sweet peas are not real vetches, but belong to the vetch family. Since the flowers of this perennial plant are deceptively similar to those of the Vicia, these flowering plants are also called sweet peas in our parlance.
The perennial vetch is hardy
The perennial vetch is very robust and absolutely hardy. If necessary, it is cut back a little in autumn, since the above-ground parts of the plant serve as protection against the cold. Only cut back this vetch close to the ground in spring to stimulate new growth.
Although the perennial vetch is not affected by frost, it is advisable to apply additional winter protection in very harsh regions. Twigs that you spread loosely over the plant are well suited.
tips
You can tell whether the vetch that grows in your garden is hardy or not by its scent. The annual Vicia varieties exude an intoxicating aroma, while the frost-resistant perennial vetch blooms without a recognizable scent.