Pisum sativum

Annual plant, open pollinated. 

This beautiful pea will add color and texture to your gardens. These purple peas are quite versatile, loved as an ornamental, a snow pea, a shelling pea as well as a soup pea! If using as snow pea, harvest very young before it gets stringy. They were traditionally considered a dry soup pea in Holland, perhaps as early as the 1580s. Named after the Capuchin monks of the Middle Ages who grew a similar variety in their cloister gardens, this variety is thought to have been perfected by Dutch seedsmen. 

Peas (Pisum sativum) are native to the Mediterranean Basin and parts of the Middle East, and have been cultivated for over 7000 years.

Days to maturity: 65. 

Seeds per pack: 50 

Seed starting

Direct seed in the garden as soon as soil can be worked. Peas will climb, so provide them with trellising. They can tolerate a little frost, and they are naturally quite drought tolerant. You can plant them a couple inches apart.