Lathyrus latifolius White Pearl - Broadleaf Sweetpea

Lathyrus latifolius 'White Pearl', also known as the Everlasting Sweet Pea 'White Pearl', is an adorable small climbing plant, which flowers throughout the summer with clusters of papilionaceous flowers in a pure white shade.  These flowers are quite large but without fragrance. The plant creeps on the ground or clings to its support thanks to a few tendrils that suspend its bluish-green foliage and its broad flattened stems. Light and devilishly romantic, this Everlasting Sweet Pea is also a very hardy and drought-resistant plant, which loves the sun and a rather fertile well-drained soil.

Introduced before 1635, the perennial pea became popular in the 1900s; it was often cultivated on a floral cage, a very fashionable accessory in Victorian England. This Everlasting Sweet Pea is a plant of the Fabaceae family native to Chile, which has become naturalised in Europe, in southern regions, where it grows in sunny fallow land on rather chalky soil. With rapid growth, the stems develop tendrils that cling to the support you have carefully provided during planting. Growing from a large fleshy root, this plant easily reaches 1.80 m (6ft) in a few months. Flowering takes place from June-July to September if it does not lack water. Its papilionaceous flowers, 2 to 3 cm (1in) long, are grouped in axillary clusters of 10 to 15 flowers. It is an excellent cutflower. If it is happy, the Everlasting Sweet Pea is so vigorous that it can become invasive by abundantly self-seeding.

This charming plant has more than one feature: captivating bluish foliage, small clusters of tightly curled buds, and finally the vivacity of its carmine pink flowers. It thrives in warm and sunny places as well as in well-drained or even rocky soils. It is a perfect plant for quickly dressing up a brand new garden, a slightly wild area, the somewhat sad branches of conifers or deflowered spring-flowering bushes, including roses. Easy to grow, the large seeds of Lathyrus latifolius are easy to handle and can be easily sown by children. This Everlasting Sweet Pea is perfect for flowering a trellis, a fence, and even a pot on the patio throughout the summer, mixing pink, red, and white varieties. This pea is an aerial climber with a formidable foot. If it settles in the garden, it multiplies and spreads at will, climbing over other perennials without smothering them under its light weight. In a bouquet, it remains beautiful for several days, with the buds opening in white tinged with green, they are very refined and mix well with a few spikes of fragrant Buddleia.