I'm several months behind in planting my sweet peas. I was told at Hometown Nursery that in Paso you plant them on Pioneer Day which is usually October 1st. So, here it is in January in this photo, and I've finally cleared the rangy Jupiter's Beard out of this bed along side my garage, where I have sweet peas climb up and cover the wall each year. I have some early flowering variety and have soaked them overnight in water to get them ready to sprout.
The bad part about this bed is that there is a pipe in it and an electrical wire that we need to get rid of. When it finally blooms it is all worth the small effort of planting it. A literal wall of color and scent, and cut flowers for as long as I keep up with them. I usually get burned out in June and they go to seed. Usually they also reseed themselves, but this year I saw no seedlings coming up. It's now February 21st and the seedlings I planted have just emerged! A sentimental note: I was introduced to sweet peas the first time at my brother Robert's reception in my parents' backyard in April. A nice lady, Sister Esther Dial, provided all the table centerpieces from her garden, and they were all pastel sweet peas packed in the glass vases. She told me how she grew them, and I thought, if she can grow these in Arizona, maybe I can grow them, too. Then, when I moved to San Luis Obispo, my mother-in-law Darlene showed me how she grew them around her property and how she would throw handfuls of seeds on the hillside by the creek, and they would come up among the poison oak and other plants. I'm thankful that she and Sister Dial got me hooked on such an amazing flower.
I'm several months behind in planting my sweet peas. I was told at Hometown Nursery that in Paso you plant them on Pioneer Day which is usually October 1st. So, here it is in January in this photo, and I've finally cleared the rangy Jupiter's Beard out of this bed along side my garage, where I have sweet peas climb up and cover the wall each year. I have some early flowering variety and have soaked them overnight in water to get them ready to sprout.
The bad part about this bed is that there is a pipe in it and an electrical wire that we need to get rid of. When it finally blooms it is all worth the small effort of planting it. A literal wall of color and scent, and cut flowers for as long as I keep up with them. I usually get burned out in June and they go to seed. Usually they also reseed themselves, but this year I saw no seedlings coming up. It's now February 21st and the seedlings I planted have just emerged! A sentimental note: I was introduced to sweet peas the first time at my brother Robert's reception in my parents' backyard in April. A nice lady, Sister Esther Dial, provided all the table centerpieces from her garden, and they were all pastel sweet peas packed in the glass vases. She told me how she grew them, and I thought, if she can grow these in Arizona, maybe I can grow them, too. Then, when I moved to San Luis Obispo, my mother-in-law Darlene showed me how she grew them around her property and how she would throw handfuls of seeds on the hillside by the creek, and they would come up among the poison oak and other plants. I'm thankful that she and Sister Dial got me hooked on such an amazing flower.
2 comments:
I love your blog, Nancy.
You could do a series of posts on flowers and your personal memories associated with learning each new flower.
Boy, you would be shocked and appalled if you caught a glimpse of our ugly yard right now. :0) Oh well.
Okay, Nancy, you need to post!
You'd be proud of me. I planted some flowers. And my yard is at it's best, which is really the rain and not anything I'm doing. I need to call you to catch up! (I was hoping to get caught up on your family's happenings by reading your blog.)
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