Sweet Pea 'Chocolate Flake'
Lathyrus odoratus
Chocolate Flake is a Spencer type sweet pea. Overwhelmingly pretty and captivating. Large, frilly maroon flaked flowers have stripes on both sides of the petals. As the blooms age and fade, they take on a chocolate brown color and appear to be dusted with cocoa powder. Lovely to cut and display in a vase. Expect the plants to produce some paler and darker variants. Bred by Dr. Keith Hammett.
Details
Plant type: Hardy annual
Height: 6-8 feet
Plant spacing: 6-8 inches
Site: full sun (or partial afternoon shade in hotter zones)
Soil & Water: fertile and moist, but well-draining
Pinch: when there are 4 pairs of true leaves
Approx Chocolate Flake Sweet Pea Seeds per packet: 10
How to Grow Sweet Peas
No garden is complete without sweet peas. Sow as many sweet pea seeds as you can and you won't regret it! They will fill your life with a myriad of colors and sweet scent. Grow sweet peas climbing over teepees and arches in the garden and cut them to fill jugs and vases in your house in spring & summer. The more you pick, the more they flower. Read more..
Harvesting & Vase Life
To keep the flowers coming, pick frequently! Allowing the plant to go to seed will send a signal that new flowers do not need to be produced. For the longest vase life, pick your sweet peas when there are still at least two unopened flowers at the top. Flowers do not continue to open after picking. For a more frilly and full look, pick when fully open, but expect a shorter vase life. Sweet peas are a short lived cut flower, but you can extend their life by adding a cut flower preservative to the water and keeping them in a cool place and away from any ethylene sources such as ripening fruit. Ethylene will shorten the vase life. Cutting the flowers along with some of the vine will also extend the vase time and give a more interesting vase display.
Sweet peas, just like many plants we grow in our gardens, are toxic. Sweet pea seeds and any part of the plant should not be ingested.