💮 When to Plant Sweet Peas

🌸 Flower
Cool Season

Sow as early as possible; need cool weather. Soak seeds overnight

📅 Planting Calendar by USDA Zone

Sweet Peas is a cool-season crop — plant it around your last spring frost, and you can often start it earlier indoors or sow again for a fall harvest. Find the exact start-indoors, transplant, and direct-sow dates for your USDA zone in the table below.

Select your zone to highlight your dates. All dates are calculated from each zone's average frost dates — see how we calculate them.

Find my zone
Zone Last Frost Start Indoors Transplant Direct Sow
Zone 2A May 30 Apr 4 May 2 Apr 18
Zone 3B May 15 Mar 20 Apr 17 Apr 3
Zone 4A May 8 Mar 13 Apr 10 Mar 27
Zone 4B May 1 Mar 6 Apr 3 Mar 20
Zone 5A Apr 25 Feb 28 Mar 28 Mar 14
Zone 5B Apr 18 Feb 21 Mar 21 Mar 7
Zone 6A Apr 21 Feb 24 Mar 24 Mar 10
Zone 6B Apr 10 Feb 13 Mar 13 Feb 27
Zone 7A Apr 5 Feb 8 Mar 8 Feb 22
Zone 7B Mar 28 Jan 31 Feb 28 Feb 14
Zone 8A Mar 20 Jan 23 Feb 20 Feb 6
Zone 8B Mar 12 Jan 15 Feb 12 Jan 29
Zone 9A Feb 28 Jan 3 Jan 31 Jan 17
Zone 9B Feb 15 Dec 21 Jan 18 Jan 4
Zone 10A Feb 1 Dec 7 Jan 4 Dec 21
Zone 10B Jan 15 Nov 20 Dec 18 Dec 4
Zone 11A Jan 1 Nov 6 Dec 4 Nov 20

Sweet peas are fragrant climbing flowers that bloom in cool weather — a cottage garden essential.

Top Growing Tips

  • Soak seeds overnight before planting for faster germination
  • Plant very early spring (or fall in mild climates) — they love cool weather
  • Provide a trellis or netting — they climb 6-8 feet
  • Cut flowers daily to keep plants blooming
  • NOT edible — sweet peas are toxic if ingested (unlike garden peas)

Companion Planting

Good companions: other cool-season flowers, beans (share trellises)

Avoid planting near: none — but keep separate from edible peas to avoid confusion

Harvest Timeline

Flowering in 50-65 days from seed; pick daily for longest bloom season

Growing sweet peas in your region?

These dates come from your zone's frost windows. For the full month-by-month plan — succession sowing, variety picks, and timing tuned to your climate, not just your zone — our regional vegetable-gardening guides cover your area start to finish.

Find your regional growing guide