Featured Flower: Sweet Peas

“Sweet Pea, Apple of My Eye,” a beloved child’s nickname, Shakespeare’s Peas Blossom, the sweet fragrance of spring with a scent so heady it will fill a room—so many things come to mind when one thinks of sweet peas. Fluttering feminine petals and tendrils winding around and around, curling in endless spirals of color; there is something almost human about the determination of those vines that stretch across planter boxes into places they were never planted—like Jack’s beanstalk they just seem to keep growing and growing.  Sweet peas come in a wide variety of colors, from peach to deep plum and just about everything in-between. Planted in cold weather, they greet us in the spring with great exuberance and optimism.

For those of you who love sweet peas and would like to add some new varieties to your garden, don’t miss EnchantingSweetPeas.com (located in Sebastopol). They are open to the public only one day in June. People come from all around to see the 9-foot flowers and purchase rare seeds.