Lathyrus odoratus, commonly called sweet pea, is a bushy or climbing annual that features highly fragrant flowers (odoratus meaning fragrant) on winged stems clad with medium to dark green leaflets in pairs. Stems end in tendrils which enable plants to climb. As a vine, it will climb to 6-8’ in a single season. Without support, it grows in a bushy mound to 2.5’ tall. Fragrant keeled flowers bloom in clusters. In St. Louis, flowers will bloom well from spring to early summer before succumbing to hot temperatures. Further north in cool weather summers, bloom will continue throughout summer to fall. Species plants feature purple flowers, but numerous cultivars now provide a large variety of additional flower colors (pink, red, blue, lavender, purple, white and bicolor). Cultivars come in large, intermediate and dwarf sizes.
