hello!

last year in dead of winter, dh planted some broccoli seeds (out of season,
yes.) then we moved in september, so we dug the plants up & brought them
here to see what might happen. mostly, as you can imagine, it didn't work
too well - they got infested with aphids & bolted immediately, so i pulled
them out. one didn't bolt - it didn't really do anything - so i jsut left it
there & ignored it entirely, & it's still alive. i now see it's beginning to
flower(!), so i started watering it again, etc.

is this unusual? it seems really odd to me, but then i've never grown
broccoli before. i also can't imagine how it lived through a summer of
drought with no water to speak of whatsoever, and in a spot where it just
doesn't get more than a few hours of direct sunlight per day. but there you
have it, it appears to be thriving.

but my question is, is it unusual for a broccoli to act like a perennial or
something, like this? will they try to live until they've flowered or
soemthing kills them, no matter how long it takes?

i also can't work out how i can have such utterly miserable luck with peas,
which are supposed to be "easy", yet have a broccoli that simply won't die,
but there you are. :-) that's the never-ending thrill of gardening, i
suppose. g
thanks!
kylie