Lathyrus odoratus grandiflora Spring Sunshine Orange

The Sweet Pea or Lathyrus odoratus Spring Sunshine Orange is part of a new range called Spring Sunshine that offers varieties that are both early and heat-resistant, adapted to the Mediterranean climate. The flowers are fragrant, the plants are vigorous and very floriferous, with long stems. They make excellent cut flowers. The Spring Sunshine Orange variety is an annual climbing plant with large development and abundant flowering in a bright orange, rare among sweet peas. Fast-growing, the sturdy stems develop tendrils that attach themselves to the support you provide.

Lathyrus odoratus is an annual herbaceous plant in the Fabaceae family, native to southeastern Italy and Sicily. The Spring Sunshine Orange variety stands out for its high-end performance and very early flowering. It can reach 2m (7ft) in height and 40cm (16in) in width in just a few months. Its leaves are paired on quadrangular stems, with stipules at the base and extended into tendrils. They are light green in colour. Flowering occurs between April and June. The papilionaceous flowers are large, clustered in axillary clusters, with a vibrant colour, a bright orange, rare among sweet peas, with slightly undulate petals. They are formed by 5 petals, with the upper one, which is also the largest, taking the form of a standard, while the others have an intermediate shape between the lip and the tube. They emit a delicate fragrance, which has a sweet floral aroma with gentle, honeyed, and musky accents, very feminine. The fruit is a flat pod that twists, expelling its seeds at a distance. It is essential to remove faded flowers, as seed production immediately stops flowering. Sweet peas root deeply in the soil to draw water and nutrients.

Fragrant Vetches or sweet peas thrive in warm and sunny locations, in well-drained, even rocky soils. They are irreplaceable, their touching and old-fashioned flowering adds a lot of charm to bouquets, hanging baskets, and any support they bravely colonize in one season. They are equally charming and wandering in flower beds, using neighboring plants or bushes as support. They can also create beautiful carpets, mixing colours. They are inseparable from cottage gardens, like peonies, old-fashioned roses, foxgloves, peach-leaved bellflowers, and columbines. They also thrive in the fertile, watered soil of the vegetable garden, where they provide a good supply of cut flowers.