Lathyrus odoratus Winter Sunshine Navy - Sweet pea

The Sweet Pea or Lathyrus odoratus Winter Sunshine Navy is part of a new range called Winter Sunshine that offers very early varieties, flowering in early spring, well adapted to temperate climates (tested in England and the Netherlands), with buds that resist the cold. With a uniform colour, the flowers are fragrant, and the plants are vigorous and floriferous, with long stems. They are also heat resistant (also tested in California). This Winter Sunshine Navy variety forms a large climbing annual plant with abundant flowering in a very dark blue, tinged with purple, rich and deep, on sturdy stems. With rapid growth, the stems develop tendrils that attach themselves to the support you provide.

Lathyrus odoratus is an annual herbaceous plant of the legume family, native to southeastern Italy and Sicily. The Winter Sunshine Navy variety stands out for the earliest flowering on the market. It can reach 2m (7ft) in height and 40cm (16in) in width in 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 takes place in March and April. The butterfly-like flowers are large, grouped in axillary clusters, in a very dark colour, a rich navy blue tinged with purple, with slightly undulate petals. They are composed of 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, with a sweet floral aroma with hints of honey and musk, very feminine. The fruit is a flat pod that curls and expels its seeds at a distance. It is essential to remove faded flowers, as seed production immediately stops flowering. Sweet peas root quite deeply in the soil to extract water and nutrients.

Sweet peas thrive in warm and sunny locations, in well-drained, even rocky soils. They are irreplaceable; their touching and old-fashioned flowers bring a lot of charm to bouquets, hanging baskets, and any support they bravely colonise in one season. They are just as charming wandering in flower beds, using neighbouring plants or bushes as support. They can also create beautiful carpets, mixing colours. They are indispensable in cottage gardens, like peonies, hollyhocks, foxgloves, peach-leaved bellflowers, and columbines. They also thrive in the fertile and well-watered soil of the vegetable garden, where they provide a good supply of cut flowers.