Just bought an Everlasting Sweet Pea, another supermarket cheapie in a 2ltr pot, but know nothing about the plant. How do they differ from the annual version in terms of watering, feeding and planting conditions etc. Cheers.
They're similar in that they climb by using tendrils, and the flowers are pretty much the same, but they have no scent. The annuals need plenty of food and water, but those ones aren't so fussy. They certainly need well watered until established though.
They're best left to scramble through other shrubs or hedging, and if happy, can be thugs.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I’ve got two, one white one pinky red. One scrambles into a conifer the other is on a trellis against a fence in a narrow border. Both romp away every year with next to no attention. The one in the narrow border will get a can of water is the soil is very dry. Keep well watered until it establishes though.
They die away completely in the winter but start to regrow in late Spring. Easy to grow from seed but you need to keep it frost free over its first winter.
I have white plants scrambling plant going over an arch and it looks very pretty. Bees like it. It can get long and straggly, with flowers only at the end, so I tend to cut it back a bit so each strand has flowers at different levels. I dead head carefully and get flowers pretty much to the first frosts. It looks nice mixed in with other climbers. The seed pods are easy to dry and gift to others. You do need to keep an eye on watering. As mentioned above, it doesn't like to get very dry. They can take any amount of hard pruning any time, I have found.
I've got the white ones,I find they are really difficult to grow from seed. I have my 3rd sowing of annual ones coming up. I have just noticed 3 of the perennial ones coming up now,that I sowed from seed. I showed the first lot from seed about 4 years ago, didn't get a single pink one germinate
Cheers for all the comments, appreciated. Just one thing, do they take kindly to being moved if need be. @Hostafan1...it's a beauty this year, best I've known it, the reason being a bone dry April with no slugs or snails about. The holes you see just appeared a couple of days ago when one little snail got through. I love hostas and would grow many more of them, but the molluscs are a nightmare in my yard and the leaves just end up shredded.
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They're best left to scramble through other shrubs or hedging, and if happy, can be thugs.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@Hostafan1...it's a beauty this year, best I've known it, the reason being a bone dry April with no slugs or snails about. The holes you see just appeared a couple of days ago when one little snail got through. I love hostas and would grow many more of them, but the molluscs are a nightmare in my yard and the leaves just end up shredded.