Sweet Peas

It is traditional to plant your sweet peas on St. Patrick's Day and for the first time ever I have remembered to a) purchase sweet peas and 2) start soaking them in anticipation of the day.

Who doesn't love sweet peas? They are so blousy and beautiful and the fragrance is gorgeously clean and well, sweet, without being obnoxiously cloying. I love having a bouquet of them in the house. Walking past and catching a whiff of them always makes me stop and offer up thanks for their sheer beauty.

The Spouse put the weeping Japanese cherry into the ground last weekend. I'm going to install a brick border around it to create a half circle perimeter then backfill the space, to the fence, for plantings. They'll need to be shade lovers for the long haul but at least for this season I'm going to put the sweet peas along the fence behind it. I can't wait.

The seeds I have are from Renee's Garden. They are both antique varieties - those seem to be the ones with the richest colors and loveliest scents. I'm planting "Queen of Hearts", which run the gamut from deepest burgandy to a white that, at least on the package, looks like tea-soaked linen. The other variety is "Royal Family" (I'm a sucker for royalty) and range in color from pink to purple. The vines grow to between 5 and 6 feet. I can only hope.