St. Patrick’s Day tradition of planting peas is broken on a trip to Florida

It’s been 30 years that I’ve planted my peas on St. Patrick’s Day. It was something my

Oregon Sugar Pod II peas are my favorite. They were found at Living Color Garden Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. Photos by Doug Oster

grandmother said we have to do. But the holiday this year was spent in Dania Beach, Florida fishing and hanging out with my oldest son as we soaked up the rays. It’s an annual ritual for us to reconnect and relax together.

For me, it’s a much needed respite after the Duquesne Light Home and Garden Show. Don’t get me wrong, I love being at the show, but it’s a long run. That cold start to the month didn’t make it any easier, so I longed for a break from the weather too.

On vacation I started to think about what I should film for In the Garden and figured it would be best to talk about the first seeds to sow. We are filming this week on Tuesday morning and since my flight doesn’t arrive in Pittsburgh until 9:30 p.m. on Monday I was going to need pea seeds. They should always be soaked overnight to assure germination in the cool soil. I’ve got some pea seeds at home somewhere, but I wondered if I could find them and get them soaking after finally arriving home.

So we set out on a journey to find pea seeds. Google told us of the Living Color Garden Center only a few miles away in Ft. Lauderdale. Our only other choice were the box store, which were the last resort. This nursery covers five acres and is filled with more unique plants and garden items than you could possibly imagine. There was a pot filled with a mysterious orange flower which lured in honeybees, giant palm trees, annuals, perennials, fountains, colorful pots, water plants and much more. Those orange flowers lured me in too, I got down on my hands and knees to read the tag on the side of the pot. It’s a Mexican honeysuckle (Justicia spicegera ‘Sidicaro.’) The blooms weren’t very fragrant, but stunning and the bees flocked to the flowers.

Mexican honeysuckle was covered in bees at Living Color Garden Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fl.

This awesome collection of pots was on display at Living Color Garden Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fl.

I wasn’t very confident to find pea seeds in such a warm climate as they thrive in cool weather. It took a few spins of the Botanical Interests seed rack to find a few packets, which just happened to be my favorite variety, ‘Oregon Sugar Pod II.’ The snow pea needs support to climb, is picked young to be eaten pod and all or can be left on the vine for shelled peas.

We bought a couple of packets and continued exploring the garden center. I was puzzled when seeing a small selection of roses, thinking they needed a coolor climate to excel, but who knows.

The seeds will travel back to Pittsburgh to be placed in a glass of water overnight and planted in the soft, cold compost of my garden the next day for the video.

I’m sure grandma wouldn’t mind the delay in planting. It was due to time was spent with a great grandson she never met and that’s always time well spent.

Doug Oster is editor of Everybody Gardens, a website operated by 535Media, LLC. Reach him at 412-965-3278 or doster@535mediallc.com. See other stories, videos, blogs, tips and more at everybodygardens.com.

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