Coronilla varia Seeds | Crown Vetch
LATIN NAME: Coronilla varia
COMMON NAME: Crown Vetch
Plant Profile
A distinctive member of its genus, Crown Vetch (Coronilla varia) is a low, spreading, perennial in the pea family. Crown vetch is pink-and-white blanket of bank, and tight umbels of little pea-flowers sit along trailing stems. Plant is a fine, generous presence of soil-holding bank, verge and wild patch. It is a plant of open, sunny, well-drained ground. These traits together are what have kept the plant in gardens for so long.
Science & Biotechnology
Botanists studying the pea family regularly include Coronilla varia in comparative work, and the species also appears in horticultural trials aimed at gardeners and growers. Centuries of cultivation have left a detailed record of how it grows and behaves.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, Crown Vetch earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. Crown vetch is a fine, generous plant of bank and the verge. Tight, rounded umbels of small, pink-and-white flowers open through summer, drawing bees, and trailing stems spread into dense, soil-holding mat that grips slopes and cuttings of the road. Crown vetch is one of soil-holding legumes of bank, and trailing stems grip slope with fine, dense mat. Thereafter it wants only the ordinary attentions any garden plant receives.
Crown vetch is a soil-binding forage legume; its seeds contain cardiac-active compounds, so it is planted for erosion control, not for the table.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Crown Vetch under ordinary good conditions. Level a tray of loose seed compost, sow evenly, cover to about the seed’s own depth, and keep it moist in full light. Pot the young plants on as they grow, harden them off gradually, and plant them into their final positions when sturdy.
Our Take
The traditional uses covered above are what first made this species worth cultivating. Crown Vetch has real presence in the garden without demanding much in return. What it needs is basic: sun, drainage, and a little patience while it establishes.
Related Reading
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