Saturday, February 27, 2010

Sweet Peas

DSC_1037_3271 The sweet peas (Royal Blue) began blooming today.  They were planted September 14. may be Starry Night planted on October 11, 2009.  They are not the spicy variety.  Their scent is genuinely sweet.DSC_1042_3276 These sweet peas are planted around a fence post under the nectarine tree.  The plants are much larger than the spicy other variety I planted under the other trees.DSC_1043_3277 The blue in the throat of the blossom looks like a gas flame.DSC_1043_3277The blue is so dark that it’s almost purple.  The seed package portrayed the blossoms to be more of a lilac purple than this deep, rich, velvety blue.  This is a pleasant surprise.image

DSC_1009_3311I’m so confused.  I’m not really sure what type of sweet pea is blooming.  If more colors begin to burst, then those plants will be Starry Night.  Anything that is completely blue will be considered Royal Blue. 

The plan was to have the garden fence be lined with sweet peas this spring.  However, Farmer MacGregor was tenacious in pulling weeds and cleaned out most of the sweet pea shoots thinking they were weeds.

The smaller spice variety hasn’t bloomed yet.  Next year, I must advise Farmer MacGregor to cool it when snagging weeds.

Note:  It rained last night with a break this morning.  The rain returned around 3pm.  Hail and thunder was reported in Wasco – none noted in Oildale.  The air is fresh and clean.  The plants are vigorous.

3 comments:

Glennis said...

Oh, Lord, I love sweet peas! When we first moved to Topanga, in the fall of '96, I bought a half dozen packets of named varieties and tossed the seeds throughout the garden. Next spring and in following years, the peas came up again and again, self-seeding but all beautiful, until finally after about six years or so, they had all reverted to a kind of deep red-violet color, very fragrant.

I started hiring a gardener about four years ago and he is very diligent with weeds. So year by year, the sweet peas have disappeared, and now I have none. I should get some more seed, but I have to have a talk with Marcielo first.

Glennis said...

BTW - love your description - "like a gas flame." Perfect.

MAYBELLINE said...

Perhaps Marcielo and Farmer MacGregor could attend the same seminar.