Sweet Pea.

Back home!  "The Mate" isn't a gardener, in fact he doesn't like gardening, but he does like colour around his garden.  Last year Clickychick bought him some Sweet Peas and planted them for him.  She didn't read the label properly and they were dwarf.  They didn't even reach the supports they should have climbed up.

This year he decided to try "normal" sweet peas.  I say he decided CC sourced them and planted them for him.  She also instructed him that for the best show he needed to keep cutting the flowers.  They have done brilliantly, he has had flowers in the house continually for weeks and given away many bunches to us and friends at the workshop.

So today's blip is one of those Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odoratus).  Despite being a pea there is evidence that the seeds are toxic if eaten in quantity.  Until Victorian times they were a rather insignificant but sweetly scented flower.  They were turned into what we know today by the efforts of one Scottish Nurseryman and a programme of cross breeding.