Emma Watson Is A Real Sweet Pea
 Wesley Berry, AAF

Harry Potter co-star Emma Watson, who plays super-smart Hermione
Granger, turned sweet sixteen on April 15, 2006. From all
accounts, she's as sweet as any sixteen-year-old can be. So
sweet, in fact, that her birth flower is the sweet pea!

The sweet pea's botanical name is lathyrus odoratus, which
provides a pretty good clue as to one of its major
attributes-it's lovely fragrance. Lathyrus is Greek for "pea"
or "pulse" and odoratus is Latin for "fragrant." The name is
apt, since anyone who has ever had the pleasure of walking past a
sweet pea plant in full bloom has experienced a pulse of a
lovely, soft, and slightly sweet fragrance.

It is widely believed that the term "sweet pea" was first used
by the poet John Keats who wrote:

Here are sweat peas, on tip-toe for flight
With wings of gentle flusho'er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things
To bind them all about with tiny rings.

The sweet pea is an annual flower variety that is a climbing
plant, which may grow to heights reaching up to three feet. They
are available in a great many colors, including pink, purple,
blue, red, yellow, and white. (The sweet pea is also available in
a perennial variety, but this variety does not produce fragrant
flowers.) Sweet peas make an excellent decorative flower that
will climb fences, trellises where the sun is bright and water
drainage is good.

The sweet pea first gained popularity in the early 1700s when it
was grown for its fragrance. Their fragrance was important since
bathing wasn't a frequent occurrence at this time in history, so
ladies carried small bouquets of flowers called nosegays, which
they sniffed to avoid unpleasant odors-the sweet pea's beautiful
scent made an excellent choice for inclusion in these nosegays.

Today, the common floral meaning for the sweat pea is "blissful
pleasure" and it is largely grown for its beauty and scent. It
is, in fact, often referred to as the "Queen of Annuals." It
has had other meanings throughout history as well. The sweet pea
was the emblem for Edwardian England where it was often used in
wedding and party arrangements. It has also been featured in old
wives tales. For example, it was once believe that sweet pea
seeds planted before St. Patrick's Day would have bigger,
better-scented blooms.

Born in the month of the sweet pea, Emma Watson's sweet
personality can only help her to rise in popularity as an actress
just as the sweet pea has grown in popularity over the years.




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Wesley Berry is member of the American Academy of
Floriculture (AAF) and President of Wesley Berry Flowers,
a successful multi-million dollar floral business that
was established in 1946. He is also the Headmaster of the
Professional Florists' Institute, a floral design school
located in Michigan. Visit Wesley Berry Flowers on the web
at http://www.800wesleys.com .