Sweet Peas

Now is the time to plant Sweet Peas from seed! I planted mine around the first of this month and already have sprouts.  Yay! I soaked them overnight in water before I planted. 
























I am so excited about them this year.  Or should I say next year. They are the only annual that takes SO LONG from sprout to flower.  It takes like 6 or 7 months for flowers to come! Marigolds take like 4 weeks!  Tomatoes take about 8 weeks!  

The reason I am more excited this time is because I brought back with us a packet of Lisa Marie(silver grey and pink flowers seen there were stunning!) seeds from the Chelsea Flower Show in London(back in May). 

Lisa Marie Sweet Peas from The Chelsea Flower Show

And I ordered some ORANGE Sweet Pea seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.   That's right!  ORANGE Sweet Peas!   And I got 2 different orange varieties. I have never seen orange Sweet Peas. Yay!  They should be excellent! 

So if you're in SoCal or the West and want Sweet Peas, go buy some, soak them and plant them ASAP!  

Happy Gardening! 

Pretty Purple Flowers

I bought this plant maybe one year ago from The Huntington Botanical Gardens nursery. It grew fast and bloomed a little last year. But now it is glorious! 

It is called Dichoriste thunbergiflora.  Say DI-kor-EEST  thun-BERJ-eh-FLOR-a. It's a mouthful, right? I think that means that it has flowers kinda like Thunbergia, or Black-Eyed Susan vine. Yes the flower shape is similar, a tube that flares out at the end with a dark center. Black Eyed Susans are Orange with black throats.  Gotta love Latin. It tells you right there whats what(if you know). 

 It has grown to about 3' tall and 2' wide. I gave it a haircut last year to make it bushier.  It is growing on the east side of our house. But it gets a LOT of sun.  

I love the color.    

Happy Gardening!