All About Sweet Peas
By Kathleen Karlsen, MA

Updated: November 28, 2008 6:55 PM

The language of flowers associates the following meanings with with sweet peas: blissful pleasure, delicate pleasure, good-bye, departure, adieu and thank you for a lovely time. Sweet peas were very popular in the late 1800s and are often considered the floral emblem for Edwardian England. Sweet peas are the flowers most closely connected to the month of April.

Sweet Pea Description

Sweet peas come in over 250 varieties. Annual varieties prefer full sun, regular watering and soil with plenty of humus. Perennial sweet peas survive in average soils with moderate watering. Sweet peas are wonderfully fragrant and were originally grown in the fields of Sicily. Most types grow from 1-5' tall, though some may reach 6'.

Uses of Sweet Peas

Sweet peas can be used successfully as cut flowers and in corsages and boutonnieres. The most famous, and perhaps most important use of sweet peas was the extensive genetics studies performed by Gregor Mendel.

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