Several years ago I took a seed starting class at Red Butte Gardens. It was a lot of fun, but the best part was all the new flowers I was introduced to. One of my favorites was a lovely annual called Stock or Matthiola. It is a lovely flower and it has a wonderfully intoxicating scent, heady and sweet and never cloying. I’m always disappointed when I can’t find Stocks in the garden stores. That’s one of the best reasons to start seeds; to start plants that are hard to find.
In the Matthiola family there is a variety named Matthiola longipetala which blooms at night. It is now one of my very favorites (yes, I have a lot of favorites but that is another topic). I started these from seeds one year and planted them in a couple of spots. Much to my delight these lovely annuals self-sowed with abandon and they come back every year without fail. I keep a spot open for them in my annual garden where they grace it with their delicate white and lavender-pink blooms. I also enjoy seeing how a few of them inevitably weave their way amongst the the perennials in my back flower border.
The thing I love most about them, though, is their lovely scent. I love sitting in the backyard in the summer, when it starts to cool. Every evening they put out new blossoms and fill the air with their sweet perfume. Yesterday I could even smell them from the front yard. I’m in the house writing now but I just opened the window and a cool breeze just brought their wonderful aroma inside. I count them as one of the simple, joyful pleasures of life.
1 comment:
Beautiful flowers. One day I'll get into gardening. Probably around the same time that I get a house.
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