SCREECH! [insert sound of record player needle being dragged across the record]
Let's back up our story to LAST SPRING, when my pals Betsy, Wendy and I were touring the Carlsbad Flower Fields. This is a lengthy blog, but bear with me...things need 'splainin'
We saw a beautiful display of sweet pea vines growing up a wire tee pee frame. We loved the idea and decided that next spring, a tee pee of sweet peas would be growing in our OWN yards.
Now the story advances six months to this past November, when Betsy thoughtfully announces that she remembered about the sweet peas and even better than that bought us all seeds.
(Isn't that just SO thoughtful??? Ya, well hang on the story gets better....)
Because little-did-we-know-then Betsy put a voodoo curse on all the seeds EXCEPT hers!
Well, innocently, we all planted our seeds and what do you know, Betsy's seeds grow FAST, THICK, BEAUTIFUL, and HAPPY while my seeds barely grow, most die and they are sad and depressing.
(And I'm quite sure this was due to Betsy's aforementioned voodoo curse and had nothing to do with the fact that I was so busy I kept forgetting to water them....yep quite sure....)
Well, every time I saw Betsy, she'd casually ask how my sweet peas are looking....I'm sure that was just to check on how her voodoo curse was doing, just in case she needed to refresh the curse....
Well her sweet peas were MAGNIFICENT!
So fabulous, in fact, that her tee pee of sweet peas was so tall, thick and amazing she could stand behind it and be totally hidden. (I know this because she sent a photo of just that! Evil I tell you....EVIL!)
(The vase of sweet peas you saw at the start of this blog was a little gift from her...sweet?...or evil? You decide!)
Well, I am happy to note that despite the curse, one of my seeds decided to be happy! (Could it have been due to the fact that I finally started to water it...? Naa....it definitely her curse wearing off.)
Here is MY magnificent tee pee of sweet peas - not as big as Betsy's but beautiful!
And let me tell you this folks....next year....it will be:
ALL OUT
SWEET PEA WAR!
...so hang on to your tee pee...
"Sweet Pea flowers have a fascinating history. It is generally believed that the first sweet pea seeds were harvested from the wild by a monk living on the island of Sicily and sent to an English schoolmaster in 1699. In the mid -1880's, a Scotsman named Henry Eckford began hybridizing and selecting sweet peas, introducing much larger, more beautifully formed varieties with a wider range of colors. These "grandifloras" became very successful commercially as cut flowers and were widely grown by horticulturists for exhibition."
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3 comments:
I did not curse your sweet peas!! Yours were neglected, unloved, and you forgot to sing to them every morning. I even heard them whimpering in their pot, "please, someone water meeeee." It was pitiful. Good luck next year, but I'm still the Sweet Pea Queen!!
Dear Sweet Pea Queen, just wait til next year.... :P
No. I am afraid there is no Sweet Pea Queen but me. And I live in northern CA so anyone down there is out of the question.
Firstly, you will not get good flowers in a little container like that one. They need a good deep root run. Sow your seeds in rich, good, deep soil in October. You will not see much until next spring of course, but they are growing and developing underground to give strong vines when it is time. Protect against slugs and snails. They are the number one enemy. Make sure they get watered deeply but do not drown them. The winter rains will help. In spring time,do not feed until after the first bloom. Anything you use for tomatoes or roses is a good food. Pick often; with sweet peas, the more you pick the more you get.
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