L. latifolius is known as the perennial sweet pea or everlasting pea. It can grow up to 12 feet in height and flowers are white, pink tones and mauves. It is not fragrant although you’ll see references made to it being so (I think the writers get confused with the annual Lathyrus varieties and the perennial ones). This plant is the one commonly found in garden centers and nurseries in the spring.

It prefers full hot sun although it will tolerate a little morning or late afternoon shade. The difficulty in growing it in the shade is that flower production drops dramatically. The vine survives but all you wind up with is green foliage.

It propagates itself from seed. Prolifically! Once established in a garden, it can be a bit difficult to eradicate as it flowers and self-sows with great vigour. The flowers in white, pinks and mauves are quite lovely and make decent cut flowers.

It is a wonderful plant for covering banks and mounding itself over nearby shrubs to provide blooms in mid-summer after the shrub has finished blooming. It will tend to be very aggressive though and “eat” the shrub, covering and shading the shrub leaves so they tend to die off. The books show these lovely pictures of this plant over shrubs; they don’t show the shrub several years later.