Sweet pea Profile

Sweet pea is a one- or two-year-old vine climbing plant, with 2 to 5 flowers. There are many varieties of Sweet peas, usually half-double and double-petaled. The flowers are beautiful, butterfly-shaped, and colorful. They are white, pink, durian, scarlet, blue, violet, and dark brown, and also have spots or Multi-color varieties such as trimming. Sweet peas are native to Sicily and Southern Europe in the Mediterranean and are now widely cultivated as ornamental flowers.

Sweet pea morphological characteristics

Sweet pea is a perennial herb, with tuberous roots, 1-1.8 meters high. Stems are stout, usually, 5 mm in diameter, terete, longitudinally furrowed, erect or ascending, glabrous. The stipules are large, half-arrow-shaped, slightly serrated all over or below, 4-6 cm long and 2-3.5 cm wide. The leaf shafts of Sweet peas have branched tendrils; 3-4 pairs of small leaves, usually ovate, thinly pointed, broadly wedge-shaped or wedge-shaped at the base, entire, 4-6 cm long, 2-7 cm wide, without both sides Hair, green on the top, pale underneath, with pinnate veins. The racemes are axillary, about as long as the leaves, with more than 10 flowers. The calyx is campanulate, about 5 mm long, glabrous, with short calyx teeth, the smallest calyx tooth is 2 mm long, and the uppermost calyx tooth is 1 mm long. The flower of Sweet pea is dark yellow, 1.5-2 cm long, the flag petal is 1.6-1.8 cm long, the petals are oblate, the petals are narrowly obovate, and the petals are the same length, the wings, and the flag petals are the same length, with ears The keel flap is approximately the same length as the wing flap, with an oval flap, acuminate at the tip, and ears and a linear stem at the base. Its ovary is linear and hairless. The pods are linear, 8-15 cm long and 5-6 mm wide, with long nets. Seeds are purple-brown. Wide and long round, 3-5 mm long, smooth. The flowering period of Sweet peas is from May to July, and the fruit period is from August to September.

Sweet pea growth habit and growing environment and distribution

Sweet peas are native to Sicily and Southern Europe in the Mediterranean. Sweet peas enjoy the climatic conditions of warm winter and no scorching heat in summer and are suitable for biennial flower cultivation. Hi-light, slightly shade-resistant, avoid the dry wind. Taproots, not resistant to transplantation, require deep soil layers and high dryness. Sweet peas are weakly resistant to sulfur dioxide and can be used as an indicator plant for monitoring pollution.
Sweet peas enjoy plenty of sunshine and can tolerate half-shade. Excessive shade causes good plant growth, and the viewing effect is not good in areas with many rainy days during the growing season. Good ventilation is required, and the poor are prone to pests and diseases. It is a deep-rooted flower and requires looseness and fertility. Moist and well-drained sandy loam does not grow well on dry, thin soil and cannot tolerate standing water.
Sweet peas belong to the legume family and are native to Sicily and Southern Europe in the Mediterranean. Sweet peas are distributed in the northern temperate zone, tropical Africa, and high mountains in South America. Because of its strong adaptability, it has a wide geographical distribution all over the world. Sweet pea and its seed pea have been cultivated in my country for more than two thousand years and are cultivated everywhere. The main production areas are Sichuan, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Qinghai and other more than ten provinces. There are about 130 species of sweet peas, 30 species produced in China. They are widely cultivated all over the world, such as dwarf varieties with upright stems, short growth and dense plants suitable for potting. According to the flower type, it can be divided into flat petals, rolled petals, wrinkled petals, and double petals. The flowering period, it can be divided into three types: summer flowers, winter flowers, and spring flowers. With the progress of breeding, the number of cultivated varieties is increasing.

Sweet pea efficacy and role

Garden uses of sweet peas

The flower branches and leaves of pea are elegant, light, chic, colorful, and fragrant. It can be transplanted outdoors in spring and summer as a vertical greening material or ground cover. It can also be used for potted plants for indoor furnishing appreciation, beautification of windowsills, balconies, flower stands, fences, or flower beds. It can also be used as materials for winter and spring cut flowers to make flower arrangements, flower baskets, wreaths, bouquets, table decorations, etc.

Flower arrangement of Sweet peas

When the flower stem is long, it is only used as a line flower (LineFlower), and when the flower stem is short, it is also suitable for use as a mass flower (MassFlower). It can be combined with tulips and gypsophila to form a small bouquet, which is very charming. It should be noted that the stems of sweet pea are easy to break, so special care should be taken.

Uses of Sweet peas

1. The floral fragrance of swallowed Sweet peas has the effects of relaxing nerves, reducing mental tension, and relieving physical and mental fatigue.
2. Sweet pea is very resistant to the harmful gas hydrogen oxide and can purify the air. In addition, sweet pea is very resistant to sulfur dioxide, so it can be used as a monitoring plant for the gas to help you verify the cleanliness of the air at home, but this is at the expense of a pot of sweet pea.
3. Sweet pea has a unique flower shape with slender and soft branches. It can be used as materials for cutting flowers in winter and spring, making flower baskets, wreaths, and potted plants for indoor furnishings. In spring and summer, it can also be transplanted outdoors to be used as vertical greening materials.

Sweet pea cultivation

Although sweet peas are not strict with soil requirements, they can be planted on well-drained sandy soil or newly cultivated land, but it is better to use loose and neutral (pH 6.0-7.0) soil with high organic content, which is good for seedling emergence and rhizobia When the soil acidity is lower than pH5.5, it is easy to cause disease and reduce the pod setting rate, so lime should be added for improvement. Pea has a deep root system and is slightly drought-tolerant but not moisture-tolerant. It is easy to rot roots due to poor drainage of seeding or seedlings, and poor insemination due to drought during the flowering period, and it is easy to form empty pods or shabby pods. The sweet peat soil is made up of hummus, peat, river sand and some organic fertilizers. The diluted liquid fertilizer is applied every 10 days before flowering. Potassium dihydrogen phosphate is applied in the early stage of flower bud formation. The principle of watering is between dry and wet. . The cultivation temperature should not be too high. Before flowering, the temperature during the daytime is 9～13℃, and the nighttime is 5～8℃. If the temperature is too high, the Sweet pea plant will not fully develop and bud, which will affect the growth of the plant. When Sweet peas bloom, the room temperature is increased to 15-20°C, which is conducive to flower formation.
For greenhouse or housing maintenance, potted flowers must be placed in front of the window to receive sunlight, and ventilation must be paid to prevent protruding or falling buds. When the main vine grows to about 20 cm, the topping will promote the growth of the side vine and increase the number of flowers. Climbing-type varieties can be set up in a frame shape, and the flowering period can be controlled by temperature regulation. Plants that bloom from December to February to March of the following year can be maintained in a medium-temperature greenhouse, and plants that bloom in May of the following year can be placed in a cold room for overwintering. During the flowering period, in order to ensure the number of blooms, the blooming flowers are removed at any time to extend the flowering period of the plants. Fruits are set after flowering, and the pods in each part have different hot stages, so they need to be picked as they mature.