Merry sweet peas to all

For the first time, I have a spray of my favorite flowers just in time for the holidays. Yup, this is early, even here in Southern California.

Directly seeded into the ground in August, and note this is NOT when I usually plant, my sweet peas grew like weeds. I think they liked our weird cold summer combined with those few weeks of weird hot weather in November and December. For support, I use one of those horribly shaky and wobbly 'tomato cages' you can purchase at chain garden stores but I turn them upside down, the legs up in the air, and use stakes to stabilize the whole thing. I tie a ribbon round the legs and the peas grow up the sides, confining the sweet peas to a small spot, perfect for a tiny garden. Sweet peas are my favorite fleur. Their fragrance always reminds me to take a moment and relax so I am happy to share these with you this holiday season in this way.