🌿 Gwen's Sweet Pea 🌿

Lathyrus latifolius
Hand-thrown porcelain pot by Louis Mideke
Shaw Island, Summer 2014

      From a photograph documenting the day, we know that in the late 1960s, Gwen Yansen, with a maiden name of Jones, traveled to the small island of Jones, San Juan county, with Babs and Coonie Cameron. Their mission was to gather wild-collected flower seeds for the woodland garden being planted for the new Shaw Island Library and Historical Society. 
      We all know that Gwen loved flowers, but with a healthy love of books, she also contributed as a trustee on the first board of directors to help round up supportive charter members.
      The native, Lathyrus latifolius vine enjoyed a prominent place in the Yansen garden overlooking Wasp Pass. Gwen grew her perennial Sweet Pea specimen for at least twenty years, on its own 7-ft iron tuteur.
       Mary Lou, another great island gardener used to give her annual Sweet Peas an early start by sowing them in the autumn season, in a warm southerly location next to her house. She remembers that wild Sweet Peas used to grow along Shaw Island ditches before our roads were so well maintained by the County Road crew. 

Lathyrus latifolius
Blooms of summer '14.

     This naturalized, roadside wildflower was introduced from Southern Europe into English gardens before 1635, and came with immigrants to North America. Now throughout the west, the plant is an example of the adage that "we can't have it all." The perennial vine, with healthy foliage all through the record hot, dry summer of 2021, is long-lived, salt-spray, and wind tolerant, it has a long bloom season with fine flowers for cutting, a gorgeous magenta rose color,  clump, and displays resistance to drought. It won the prestigious Royal Horticulture Society "Award of Garden Merit," but alas, it lacks fragrance.
     
      According to seed specialist, Renee Shepherd, this species can be trained as an attractive and reliable perennial hedge plant, much more drought tolerant than the annual sweet peas. Here is a link to her site.

      Cultivation:

Pre-soak seeds and sow in containers for placement in a cold frame in Sept/Oct or store seeds in the refrigerator for sowing in early spring. 
Prone to diseases if seedlings are overwatered.
Enjoys the sun.
Some good culture notes HERE.

*Favored reference for this Lathyrus study; 
Clark, Lewis J. Wild Flowers of the Pacific Northwest from Alaska to Northern California; Sidney, B.C., Gray Publishing Ltd. 1976.

Fresh sweet pea packets are  
on the rack at the Gatehouse,
 Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island.