‘Bijou Dwarf Mix’ — knee-high sweet peas that need no trellis, planted in fall for February–April fragrance. Deep rich soil, regular water, pick constantly, and keep the pods out of the vegetable garden.
Sweet peas are the scent of a desert spring: ruffled, butterfly-shaped flowers in pink, lavender, white, salmon and purple with a perfume that carries across a patio in February. ‘Bijou’ is a dwarf strain that stays around 18 inches and holds itself up without a trellis, which makes it the sweet pea for pots, low fences and the front of a bed. In Queen Creek they are a fall-planted crop, blooming from February to April and finishing when the heat and powdery mildew arrive in May.
We commonly carry ‘Bijou Dwarf Mix’. Note that ornamental sweet pea seeds and pods are toxic — this is not an edible pea. The rest of the color tables are on our Annual Flowers & Foliage page.
This is the sweet pea we commonly carry. Availability changes week to week and season to season, so call (480) 987-3308 or stop in to see what’s on the bench today.
Lathyrus odoratus ‘Bijou’: a bush sweet pea to 18 inches with fragrant, ruffled flowers in a full color mix on stems long enough to cut. Blooms February–April.
Looking for one that isn’t listed? Ask — we can usually suggest a close match or tell you when it tends to come around.
The care tag was written somewhere else. This is the Queen Creek version.
Set out young plants from mid-October through December. Sweet peas need the cool months to root deeply before they climb and flower from February to April. Plants set out in spring flower briefly and quit. They take light frost; cover below 28°F when young.
Sweet peas are heavy feeders with deep roots. Dig the bed a foot deep, work in generous compost and a balanced organic fertilizer, or use a deep pot (14 inches or more) of rich potting mix. Plant the cells without disturbing the roots.
Sweet peas stop flowering the moment they set seed. Cut every open stem every two or three days — for the house, where they last four or five days and scent a room — and the plants keep producing until the heat ends them. Feed a bloom fertilizer every two weeks once flowering starts.
Full sun through winter; afternoon shade in April extends the bloom a couple of weeks. Sweet peas in shade produce leaves and few flowers.
Regular, deep water: every two to three days through winter in beds, daily in pots by March, at the base. Drought stress makes buds drop and shortens the season. Mulch the bed.
Powdery mildew coats the leaves in May and ends the season; that is normal. Aphids on tips in warm spells — hose them off. Sweet pea seeds and pods are toxic to people and pets if eaten in quantity; keep them separate from edible peas and out of reach.
Snap a photo of the spot — sun direction, wall color, pot size — and we’ll pick a season-correct combination with you. Advice is free.
Annuals succeed or fail on what’s under them. We stock planting mix and compost for beds, potting mix for containers, bloom fertilizers including Tony’s Magic Mix and Magic Flower, starter fertilizer, drip fittings and frost cloth for the cold nights. The pottery yard has glazed and terracotta pots from 4-inch to whiskey-barrel size, window boxes and hanging baskets, and soil and mulch is sold by the bag or by the yard.
Mid-October through December. They bloom from February to April.
‘Bijou’ doesn’t — it is a bush type to about 18 inches. A few twiggy sticks help in wind.
They set seed. Cut every flower every two or three days and never let pods form; also check water and feed every two weeks.
No — ornamental sweet peas are toxic. They are unrelated in use to garden peas.
Every two to three days in beds through winter, daily in pots by March, deeply, at the base.
Powdery mildew, which arrives with the heat and ends the season. Pull the plants and plant again in October.
Sweet Pea live on the annuals tables; any staff member can point you to them. Locally owned, and a short drive from San Tan Valley, Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa.