Perma Sweet Pea, also known as Everlasting Pea, look like magical orchids in your garden. These perennial sweet peas have a gorgeous range of colors from deep pinkish purple, to rose, to white. Their vines bramble along the ground and their blossoms reach up to the sun on the tips of their vines. They make a beautiful cut flower and attract loads of pollinators to the garden. Although they aren't edible, they have a superpower...they are nitrogen fixers! (Lathyrus latifolius)
Why We Love Them
Here are some of the reasons why we love Perma Sweet Peas...
1) GORGEOUS! - The range of colors and gorgeous blossoms make it look like hundreds of orchids are popping up through our orchard. The colors of their flowers pop so beautifully off the green of their vines. They make a beautiful cut flower.
2) FERTILIZER- Perennial sweet peas are great nitrogen fixers and can be chopped and dropped throughout the year. We use them as a perennial ground cover in our food forest and plant them around our fruit trees.
3) - POLLINATOR ATTRACTANT - These sweet peas flower all throughout the summer and attract loads of pollinators to the garden. More pollination = more food for you!
How to Grow Them
Here's how to grow Perma Sweet Pea:
| SUN | FULL OR PART SUN |
| MOISTURE | AVERAGE TO LOW ONCE ESTABLISHED |
| GROWING ZONES | USDA 4-10 (Not sure? Find your growing zone here) |
| SIZE | 6-12" TALL & 3 FEET WIDE IF BRAMBLING, 6+ FEET TALL IF CLIMBING |
| PRO TIP | Give these plants lots of space to sprawl along the ground or something to climb up. You can extend their blooming season by pinching off old blooms. |
How to Harvest & Use Them
These amazing peas love to stretch and grow! If you want to keep them a smaller size, you can cut them back in early Spring. We like to cut ours back a couple of times in the Spring and early Summer to allow them to release their nitrogen into the soil to fertilize our fruit trees. Then in mid-summer, we allow them to flower and show off their beauty. They are truly one of the easiest and most beautiful nitrogen-fixing ground covers you can grow.