Lathyrus odoratus grandiflora Ballerina Blue - Sweet pea

The 'Ballerina Blue' sweet pea, also known as Lathyrus odoratus Ballerina Blue, is a beautiful and rare variety that produces large, pale blue flowers with a hint of pink, highly fragrant, with up to four flowers per stem. This climbing annual plant is known for its vigorous growth, allowing it to cover large areas horizontally and vertically while diffusing a sweet fragrance. Poetic and enchanting like a flutter of butterflies, it cascades down from hanging baskets and adds charm to bouquets. It is a demanding but generous plant that thrives in fertile, moist soil in full sun.

Lathyrus odoratus is an annual herbaceous plant in the Fabaceae family, native to southeastern Italy and Sicily. It climbs using tendrils, and the Ballerina Blue variety can reach a height of 1.80m (6ft) and a width of 30cm (12in) in just a few months. Its leaves grow in pairs on quadrangular stems, with stipules at the base and extending into tendrils. The leaves are light green. The flowering period is from June to August. The papilionaceous flowers are very large, grouped in axillary clusters, with up to 4 flowers in a pearly blue colour, sometimes tinged with pink, and with highly undulated petals. They consist of 5 petals, with the uppermost and largest petals forming a banner shape, while the others have an intermediate shape between the lip and the tube. They emit a delicate fragrance with a sweet floral aroma and hints of honey and musk, and they are very feminine. The fruit is a flat pod that twists and expels its seeds. It is essential to remove faded flowers, as seed production immediately stops flowering. Sweet peas have deep roots that draw water and nutrients from the soil.

Sweet peas are irreplaceable; their touching and nostalgic flowering adds charm to bouquets, hanging baskets, and any structure they gallantly cover in a season. They are equally charming in summer borders, using neighbouring plants or bushes for support. They can also create beautiful carpets by blending different colours. They are integral to cottage gardens, alongside peonies, hollyhocks, foxgloves, peach-leaved bellflowers, and columbines. They also thrive in fertile and irrigated vegetable garden soil, providing a good supply of cut flowers.