GARDEN
There were so many plants blooming, that it was difficult to choose.
Geraniums, roses, rhododendrons, foxgloves, Gillenia, Aruncus, Centaurea...
Everybody knows Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose, but I chose also a cover by
the young Canadian Daniela Andrade who has a lovely voice and the lyrics is in English.
Today I’ll share some of the Digitalis blooming right now. I connect these romantic spikes
to the English Garden style. They self seed where they want and grow one here, another there.
The seedlings could be replanted in groups but I don’t bother.
It seems that everyone is different when looking inside the flowers.
Wishing a happy weekend & a good start to July!
- riitta
Ainola means Chez Aino and it was the home of our national composer
Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957) and his family - today a home museum.
The pair got six daughters of whom one died as a baby. This handsome home was designed
by Lars Sonck (1870-1956), a celebre architect of Art Nouveau and National Romantic styles.
Located in the artist community of Lake Tuusula, Ainola was completed in 1904.
In this link there is much interesting reading about the Sibelius family.
The house has log walls and a green-tiled fireplace, very typical of that time.
It is very cosy and looks like the Sibelius family could come and greet you any minute.
Sibelius’ wife Aino had a tough job restraining his ingenious husband's partying & drinking lifestyle
- and raising their daughters and managing the household with a tight budget.
She cultivated vegetables in the garden to make ends meet and teached the daughters at home.
Next autumn a biography of Aino Sibelius shall be released and I am sure it shall be an interesting reading.
Ainola’s kitchen is big and it was once white, now the colour is a bit yellowish.
The atmosphere was relaxed and lovely.
Old apple trees were in full bloom when I visited in the spring.
The pair is buried on the property. The bronze grave monument is simple & impressive.
It is designed by the architect Aulis Blomstedt married to Sibelius’ youngest daughter Heidi.
Jean Sibelius died in 1957 and Aino in 1969.
Of course today the garden has no vegetable garden, mainly decorative plants,
but the old apple trees were still blooming.
The house is situated on a low hill, the garden lies on the lower part.
I can imagine Aino walking these stone stairs many times a day.
Before the time of regfrigerators a cellar like this was needed.
The sauna of Ainola looked very primitive inside.
But there was an ingenious water leading system from the hot water cauldron directly to
Mr. Sibelius' bathtub behind the wall. I read that he loved to take baths!
Jean Sibelius' monument by Eila Hiltunen is located at the Sibelius park, Helsinki. It was unveiled in 1967. The Sibelius Monument, resembling organ pipes, is made of welded steel with over 600 pipes and with the bust of the composer on one side. The monument is one of Helsinki's most popular statues and one of the most well-known tourist attractions.
