When I germinated a pack of mixed Lathyrus species seeds about five years ago, a couple of the resulting plants were vines. I believe one is L. latifolius and I’m not sure of the other species. One of these grows up from the same spot as the seedling grape vine in the orchard garden, while the other one is planted at the base of the goumi berry shrub. They both grow vigorously and bloom prolifically without appearing to do any harm. One reason I planted them is to fix nitrogen in the soil for their companion plants to take advantage of…it seems to be working, since the grape vine and goumi berry are both growing really well.

I don’t have any major future plans for these plants. I just plant to keep them in bounds and enjoy their flowers. I’ll also watch for volunteers, since both set seed heavily every year and I want to be sure I’m not introducing another invasive plant to the neighborhood. So far, I haven’t seen one seedling.