Lathyrus nervosus - Lord Anson's blue pea

This adorable blue sweet pea, Lathyrus nervosus Lord Anson's Pea, is more creeping than climbing. It is sublime when in full bloom. It offers masses of lavender-blue flowers with a noticeable fragrance throughout the summer above tough grey-green-blueish foliage. This short-lived perennial forms beautiful cascades overflowing from flower pots and hanging baskets and will extend its blooming arms between the stones of cool rockeries or over walls. It appreciates sunny, well-drained, fertile, and fairly moist soils.

Lathyrus nervosus is a herbaceous plant in the legume family, native to a large geographic area ranging from Argentina to Chile and Uruguay, extending to eastern Brazil. As a result, it shows significant variations in habit, hardiness, and other characteristics. These differences seem to persist in cultivated plants. The Lord Anson's Blue selection is a less hardy perennial plant with a bushy and rather creeping habit, weakly climbing, often grown annually in our climates. Its winged stems can reach a length of 1.80m (6ft) in a season. The foliage is very attractive, composed of entire and tough, ovate leaves with a grey-green-blueish colour and a few tendrils that are not inclined to cling. They are often prone to powdery mildew. This plant is very impressive when in full bloom. It offers an abundant flowering of lavender-blue pea-like flowers, quite fragrant. It is followed by forming strongly dehiscent black pods, 6 cm (2in) in length, containing numerous marbled small seeds.

This sweet pea gives its best when given the opportunity to overflow from flower pots, hanging baskets, or the edge of a wall. It can also be trained against a support, but it loses some charm. It is hardy to around -10°C (14°F) in dry soil during winter. It grows well in a cold greenhouse or conservatory, where it can live for over 10 years. It can be combined with other dwarf sweet peas, scarlet climbing morning glory (Ipomoea x multifida), creeping nasturtiums...