Planting a Bit of Green for St. Patty's Day

I'm NOT Irish -- despite my freckles and love of green, I've got not a drop of Gaelic blood in me. I did take an hour today to honor one St. Patrick's Day traditions and that is planting peas. Well, I went for flowering sweet peas instead of the more edible kind. The rains of the past few days have finally ended and the sun is trying to break through, it is perfect planting time.

I did a row along my back fence. My ball of twine looked a bit sad and worn, so I used unwaxed, unflavored dental floss as a string trellis to guide them when they grow up the fence. When I came inside and washed up, I logged in and saw that a post on our Washington Gardener reader discussion group suggested fishing line for guiding vines as they grow. I'll keep that in mind for future years. The floss only has to last one growing season, so should be fine for that.

The sweet pea packs had plenty of extra seeds after I did the fence section, so I pushed the remainders in the soil around every traffic sign, utility pole, and flag pole within a hundred-yard radius of my house. Who knows how many of those will actually come up, as I've noticed that those same signs and poles are also doggy sniff-and-pee stops as the various neighbors make their evening rounds.

Pictured here is Jim Adams and his sweet pea plantings last spring at the British Ambassador's residence off Massachusetts Ave in downtown DC. The sweet peas are a favorite of the ambassador and were cut for many indoor bouquets to fill the home with a wonderful fragrance. Don't you wish you had a staff of expert gardeners to fulfill your flower-filled whims and wishes?