Everlasting Sweetpea

This pretty and long flowering sweetpeas (Lathyrus latifolius) are a lovely way to brighten up a dull wall or fence producing a mass of pretty flowers all summer long.

If you want to enjoy your sweetpeas in a pot for a short while choose a sheltered spot and additional stakes or supports as the new shoots develop pretty quickly. Alternatively your sweetpea plant will be happy planted directly into the ground. Again, choose a spot up against a fence, trellis or against a plain shrub or tree where the vigorous shoots have something to climb up. Like most climbers your sweetpea will prefer a position where the roots are cool but the new shoots can grow freely towards the light. It will vary a little from season to season but this pretty red variety will usually start flowering in April/May and bloom right through into August.

Whilst in a pot, your sweetpeas will need to be watered regularly. Water thoroughly from the top every couple of days and let the excess drain away during the day. You may want to add an ordinary house plant feed to the water every week or so to help your plant continue flowering.

Generally these perennial sweetpeas are very easygoing and don’t require much maintenance. They will naturally die back at the end of the autumn and then return with a burst of fresh new growth each spring.