One of my favorite cutting flowers from the garden has to be the

Sweet Pea

I’m not sure if it’s the ruffled, butterfly wing petals..

the softest of pastel colors,

the twirling wispy tendrils

or just its name..

Sweet Peas

♥

For me it brings back some of my earliest memories on Claret Street,

standing beside my dad on the south side of our house..

the musk scent of newly turned earth

and my tiny hand plunging

single seeds in a straight line.

Then gently scooping the earth over to tuck them in bed.

Then water gurgling from the hose to give them a drink.

I love my dad.

♥

Every year we’d have the delicate fragrance of sweet pea bouquets in mom’s china tea pot on our living room table.

Every summer for the past few years, I’ve been able to pick up a tiny bundle of sweet peas at the market in Vernon

and inhaled their heady perfume as I walked past the stalls.

Sadly, these blooms are short lived, lasting only a few days at best.

♥

I decided to grow my own this year and sought out a container that would do, our rock garden is too daunting to dig out!

Fearing I would be stuck using some sort of tacky plastic tub, I was delighted to stumble upon this treasure at

Country Gardens and Nursery Greenhouse in Springbank.

The gracious owner told me she was collecting these sorts of things for her own garden.. but with grandchildren to tend to she would part with this piece.

I was so appreciative of this gesture.

That’s why I love Country Garden Nursery.. they’re like that, passionate about their flowers and their customers.

I was going to line it with moss, but she suggested I choose burlap instead and so I tucked two pieces from a table runner leftover from Thanksgiving’s tablescape inside..

added the soil, with a little help from the lad

and planted three trays of sprouting sweet peas..

I’ll water

and wait.. once the stalks begin climbing I’ll have to fashion some sort of trellis for the stalks to attach to..

then hopefully I’ll have flowers

for my own bouquets in my mom’s china tea pot.. that will sit on the table in my living room.

and some day in the future.. I hope there will be another tiny hand plunging

single seeds in a straight line

on the south side of our house!

Here’s a wee peak at the rest of my garden.. coming soon!!