Bush vetch

How to recognise it

Habit

Perennial herb of 30–100 cm with angled, slightly hairy stems, which climbs through hedges and grass with branched tendrils and forms loose groups through underground runners.

Leaf

Pinnate, with 4–8 pairs of oval to elliptic leaflets 1–3 cm long, with a blunt or slightly notched tip and a tiny point, and a branched tendril at the end.

Flower

1.2–1.5 cm, dull purple to bluish-purple with darker veins, 2–6 together in a short, dense cluster in the leaf axil, from May to August.

Fruit/Seed

Hairless pods of 2–3.5 cm, glossy black when ripe, with a few to ten seeds; they twist open.

Roots

A branched rhizome with root nodules and underground runners.

Confused with

Common vetch is annual, has 1–2 purplish-pink flowers that are almost stalkless and likes full sun. Tufted vetch has long, one-sided spikes of many bluish-purple flowers on a long stalk.

Flowering: May–August · Pruning: March, July and September

Why grow it?

• An important nectar plant for long-tongued bumblebees such as the garden bumblebee; short-tongued bumblebees sometimes bite a hole in the flower to reach the nectar.
• The nectar glands on the stipules attract ants, which come to collect sugar.
• Flowers from May, even in half shade along a hedge or woodland edge.
• Fixes nitrogen from the air through bacteria in its root nodules.
• A perennial, non-invasive climber to dress the foot of a hedge or tree line.

Bush vetch: where does it grow best?

• In the wild: hedgerows, tree lines, woodland edges, open deciduous woods, verges, grassland, dykes and rough ground.
• Sun to half shade; it tolerates more shade than most vetches.
• Moisture-retentive, fairly fertile soil: loam, clay or loamy sand.
• In the garden: at the foot of a mixed hedge, along a woodland edge, in a flowery meadow or in a wild corner with shrubs.

Goes well with

• Red campion: Pink flowers in the same half shade along a hedge.
• Cow parsley: White umbels along the hedge in May, at the same time as the first flowers.
• Greater stitchwort: White star-shaped flowers at the foot of the hedge in spring.
• Garlic mustard: Small white flowers and food plant of the orange-tip, in the same half shade.
• Dog rose: A native shrub its tendrils can climb into.

Bush vetch: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy plants or seed of native origin from a wild-plant nursery.
2. Sow in autumn or spring, 1–2 cm deep. The seed has a hard coat: rubbing it lightly with sandpaper or soaking it overnight in water helps.
3. Plant in March–April or October, 30–40 cm apart, at the foot of a hedge or among shrubs where it can climb.
4. Water after planting and keep the soil moist during dry spells in the first year.
5. Never dig up plants from the wild; plants or seed from a nursery give much better results.

Care

Water

Only in the first year during dry spells.

Feeding

Not needed: it fixes its own nitrogen.

Mowing

In a flowery meadow: mow once in September, or twice, in July and September, and remove the cuttings. It regrows after mowing.

Support

No support needed next to a hedge or shrubs; elsewhere a few twigs or a piece of netting will do.

Spreading

Spreads slowly by runners but rarely becomes invasive. Too much? Pull out stems in spring or chop off a piece of rhizome with a spade.

Tip: Let bush vetch have its way under a mixed hedge: the tendrils climb between the branches, the flowers draw in garden bumblebees, and when you trim the hedge in winter it has already died back above ground.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: March, July and September.

When: Clear the dead stems in late February–March; in grassland, mow in July and/or September.

How:

• Leave the dead stems standing over winter: insects overwinter in them and the black pods look attractive.
• Cut them off at ground level in late February–March, before the new shoots appear.
• In a flowery meadow: mow in July and/or September and remove the cuttings.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Ripens in July–August. Sow in autumn or spring, after lightly sanding or soaking.

Division

In March–April or October, chop off a piece of rhizome with shoots and replant it elsewhere.

Bush vetch: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• Above ground it dies back; it overwinters with its rhizome in the soil.
• Very hardy, even in severe winters.
• Leave the dead stems with their black pods standing: they give shelter to insects.

Diseases and pests

• Aphids: Black bean aphids on the shoot tips in May–June; ladybirds and hoverfly larvae do their job.
• Powdery mildew and rust: On the leaves in dry late summers. Harmless; mow or cut off affected stems.
• Holes in the flowers: Not a disease: short-tongued bumblebees bite them open to steal nectar.
• Crowded out: On very rich soil, grasses and nettles outgrow it. Mow every year and remove the cuttings.

Through the year

• March: Cut back dead stems. Plant and divide.
• April: New shoots; the tendrils look for support.
• May: First dull purple flower clusters; garden bumblebees visit.
• June: Full flower along the hedge.
• July: Flowering and first black pods. Mow grassland if you like.
• August: Last flowers; collect seed.
• September: Mow grassland and remove the cuttings.
• October: Sow and plant.
• December: Rest; leave the dead stems standing.

Did you know?

• Sepium means ‘of hedges’, from the Latin saepes, hedge.
• Short-tongued bumblebees often bite a hole in the flower tube to reach the nectar without pollinating the flower: this is called nectar robbing.
• The small dark spot on the stipules is a nectar gland outside the flower; ants come to collect sugar there, even before the plant flowers.