At a garage sale last summer I bought some seeds called “Hungarian peas.” It is some kind of a vine, but I am not sure when I can plant it or how to take of it. Please help.

Your question is a little like getting a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle to construct without a picture. Because the plant produced a fruit from which to collect seeds, and the seller thoughtfully labeled them “peas” and told you it was a “vine,” they are likely in the legume family (Leguminosae). This is a huge family of plants, but to illustrate our proposed method of handling this situation, let’s assume that they are a variety of sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus, L. latifolius or L. grandiflora).

Sweet peas can be annuals (L. odoratus) or perennials (L. latifolius, L. grandiflora). Sweet pea vines can grow pleasantly over any support structure (fence, hedgerow, trellis, arbor) providing mildly fragrant blooms in early summer, and produce a pea-like seed pod in late summer or early fall. An annual will die back completely in winter, but a perennial will re-sprout the next spring. You could have either since seeds can be collected from both types for propagating. You will need to watch the plant for a full year to see if the main plant returns. I suggest planting these mystery seeds in an area with 4 to 6 hours of sun per day, moderately fertile soil, and provide some kind of support structure. Locate the seed planting in an area that will not invade other plant material until you have witnessed its growing habits. Most perennial sweet peas are tolerant of dry soils, while annuals prefer a more humus-rich soil. Although the preferred time to plant perennial sweet peas is autumn, you might want to plant yours now to get it established and see what happens. It’s always fun to take a chance; you could be quite pleasantly surprised.