garden vetch
Vicia sativa · Fabaceae
garden vetch (Vicia sativa) is a annual herbaceous plant in the Fabaceae family. It is introduced to North America rather than native.
At a glance
| Type | forb-herb USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | annual USDA |
| Native status | introduced USDA |
| Mature height | 4 ft USDA |
| Light | shade USDA |
| Water need | high USDA |
| Growth rate | rapid USDA |
| Soil pH | 6–7 USDA |
| Bloom | March–April USDA |
| Flower color | Purple USDA |
| Guild layer | nutrient Derived |
| Nursery availability | No Known Source USDA |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It tolerates full shade. USDA rates it as having needs consistently moist ground. It is recorded on soils from pH 6 to 7 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground.
Size and growth
At maturity it reaches about 4 ft, making it a low to knee-height plant. It grows quickly, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.
Bloom period
USDA records a bloom period of March through April. The flower color USDA records is purple. Bloom timing is how the Guild Builder overlaps flowering across a planting so something is in flower for as much of the season as possible.
Bloom period is a claim about when this plant flowers. It is deliberately not a pollinator rating — no dataset we trust publishes one, so we do not make that claim. See Data & sources.
Role in a guild
Nutrient layer. In a layered planting this is it contributes to soil fertility rather than to structure. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.
Tags
Related plants
Others in Vicia
- American vetch Vicia americana
- purple vetch Vicia benghalensis
- bird vetch Vicia cracca
- large yellow vetch Vicia grandiflora
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol VISA, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
bloom_end— quoted from USDA PLANTSbloom_start— quoted from USDA PLANTScommercial_availability— quoted from USDA PLANTSduration— quoted from USDA PLANTSedible— quoted from USDA PLANTSflower_color— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_habit— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_rate— quoted from USDA PLANTSguild_role— derived by rule from USDA columnsmature_height_ft— quoted from USDA PLANTSmoisture— quoted from USDA PLANTSnative_status— quoted from USDA PLANTSnitrogen_fixer— quoted from USDA PLANTSpet_safe— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_max— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_min— quoted from USDA PLANTSshade_tolerance— quoted from USDA PLANTS
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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