This past summer and fall, I discovered the delightful pursuit of the sweet pea!! These are pretty cute little flowers, and while we didn't grow any this year, other people in our neighbourhood did!
Some people grow them far into their yards, and they're pretty unaccessible, except to the eye. Some people though, grow them along their backyard fence, along the back alley, or even along the front yard fence, right next to the sidewalk! These sweet peas, as far as I am concerned, are fair game!! They are hanging into public turf... and nobody else seems to pick them!! This fall, many of them became little seedpods... So, I decided to embrace the sweet pea and in the dark of early mornings, would surreptiously sneak up on the unsuspecting sweet peas as they slumbered away. I didn't take a lot... just a few stalks... and their aroma is to die for... no wonder they are called "sweet" peas!!! Beautiful!!!
And their colours!!! There is the dark royal purple... the tender lavender and violet... A deep dark pink... a paler, lighter pink... and of course white. Some almost verge on red as well... Beautiful jewel tones!! Bundled together, they are quite beautiful... and in water, they can last almost a week! Great little flowers... and very cheery as well...
But, they didn't last much past the middle of October... We had a -4C frost one Friday night, and the next morning, the sweet peas were frozen... There frozen stalks turned to mush in my warm hands, and their frozen petals wilted in the light of day... Next year, I will begin my hunt for the elusive sweet pea earlier!!
1 comment:
I have a to secret gardening 'story' to tell you..we have a large empty lot right in the middle of downtoun due to some well-to-do land pwner ripping down a heritage building..it was very ugly..everyone was mad including the city politician when low and behold flowers of many sorts and colours began to pop up! nope not the city's expense..apparently a group of stealthy, guerilla gardeners were guilty of breaking through a space in the steel fence an distributed thousands of seeds in this ugly lot..seeds like poppies, marigolds, cosmos, ...well just easy to grow, reseeding varieties that needed little water or care..or so the 'story' goes...apparently there are places on the 'net where one can find out lots about this sneaking phenomanon called guerilla gardening...the practise should only be done at night..where dark clothes and a mask are good idesa..you don't want anyone to discover 'who you really are'.....I, I mean we, havn't been caaught yet
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