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Poppies, peas, and plants to watch

18.05.12

These colorful annuals — poppies, especially — love cool weather, but in most of our microclimates they're spirited enough to last into summer if you help them along. Poppies keep coming when you deadhead their faded blooms or frequently collect flowering stems, easily done when there's a passion for fresh bouquets.

Snipping stems stimulates a burst of bloom in annuals, whether flowering or fruiting, as plants seek to replace blossoms and produce seed to propagate their species.

If you have green peas growing in your spring garden, they, too — like flowering annuals — benefit from frequent attention. In this case, it's harvesting instead of deadheading.

Daily picking will keep you in a steady supply of tasty pods or shelling peas as long as the weather stays cool.

If you're planting peas now — either edible types or garden sweet peas (Lathyrus) — take a few extra steps to protect sprouts and young shoots from birds.

Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat