Re: Lathyrus Relatives

Gene and Susan:

Thanks for the comments.  L. vernus sounds like a good idea. I'm always 
looking for good spring blooming plants. Thomas says that the named 
cultivars are shorter than the species, and I think that might be a good way 
to go.  Is it likely to be a problem if I try and overplant tulips with L. 
vernus?  It seems like it might make a good plant to fill in around the 
bulbs.
Gene, I have noticed that the Europeans seem to be much more interested in 
Lathyrus than North Americans.  There are several companies in the UK that 
are sweet pea specialists and make a living out of it. I think you'd starve 
to death if you tried that in the US.
I suspect it may be that Lathyrus species don't appreciate the hot summers 
that we get here.  UK gardeners seem to get longer and better blooms from 
the annual sweet pea than we do even up here in Canada where the summers are 
cooler than in many parts of the US.
European seed catalogues seem to have a large variety of annual and 
perennial Lathyrus, whereas except for T&M which is really a UK company, 
they are badly represented here.

Interesting that the L. vernus hasn't spread around the garden. My 
latifolius sets enormous quantities of seed (even without scent the bees 
seem to like it) and I have never deadheaded it -just too much with that 
huge tangle of vine-but I have never seen a seedling yet.

Bob Campbell
USDA 4

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index