Lathyrus odoratus Grandiflora Americana - Sweet Pea Seeds

Lathyrus odoratus 'Grandiflora Americana' is a rare sweet pea variety with distinctive large, whimsical, shiny blooms, randomly striped with bright red, pink and white. This voluble annual will soon cover up its support or create a spectacular ground cover whilst diffusing its sweet scent throughout the garden. Perfect also for fragrant bouquets. Sow in the spring in a sunny location with plenty of fertile, moist soil.

Lathyrus odoratus is an annual herbaceous plant of the Fabaceae family originating from south-eastern Italy and Sicily. ‘Grandiflora Americana’ is a climbing variety: it can reach up to 1.90 m in height and 30 cm in width in the space of a few months. Its quadrangular winged stems have stipules at their base, bear pairs of glaucous light-green leaflets and end in a terminal tendril. Flowering takes place from June-July to August-September, depending on when the seeds were sown. The papilionaceous flowers are large and grouped in axillary clusters of up to 3 flowers. The flowers are composed of 5 petals: a standard, 2 free wing petals, and 2 fused petals. They give off a light, delicate fragrance, which has a sweet floral aroma with honeyed and musky notes. The fruit is a flat pod that splits at maturity, forcibly expelling its seeds away from the plant. It is essential to regularly remove wilted flowers, as seed production stunts flowering. Sweet peas root deeply in the ground to find water and nutrients.

Sweet peas are irreplaceable, their charming and old-fashioned flowers make quaint bouquets, look stunning in hanging baskets will soon cover up an old garden wall or fence. They are beautiful in summer flower beds, where they will use neighbouring plants or shrubs as a support. They can also form colourful carpets when grown as ground cover. Sweet peas are a must-have in cottage gardens alongside peonies, hollyhocks, fox gloves, peach leaved bellflowers, and columbines. They also do well in the fertile and well-watered soil of the vegetable garden, where they can be used as cut flowers.