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The glory of the sweet-pea bloom is behind her, but Glenys Johnson still loves autumn, perhaps most of all. As she pulls the dry pods from her spent vines and opens them to remove the seeds, she knows the little brown balls in her bowl hold the promise of another year of “enchanting sweet peas.” Planted in early fall, or even into the winter, sweet peas will have a chance to establish the strong roots they need to push up vines that can grow taller than an NBA center. Johnson is west Sonoma County’s sweet-pea maven. She first started growing the fanciful and fragrant flowers some 30 years ago, while working as a bartender at the old Marty’s Top ‘O The Hill in Sebastopol. For a woman who worked by night, it was her “sunlighting” side hustle, growing gorgeous blooms she sold as cut flowers. But 25 years ago, she decided to shift her focus to growing sweet peas for seed, which she packages and sells under the Enchanting Sweet Peas label. Read more at the link in our bio. Story by Meg McConahey / Photos by @christopherchungphoto #sweetpeas #enchantingsweetpeas #sebastopol #sonomacounty