Garden Mix, Mid August

August continues sunny and oh so beautiful, even so that I don’t complain about

the lack of rain. I have divided perennials and replanted some plants to a better spot.

I know, I am early. But this job is much nicer to do now in shorts and top than in the autumn rains.

Here some blues & whites blooming now. 

Aconitum lycoctonum subsp. neapolitanum, Veronica longifolia & phlox.

The bees love Veronicastrum virginicum even if the blooming is almost over.

The blooming of hemerocallis is almost over. I hesitated with the name of this beautiful

brownish red one. It is Sammy Russel!

Echinops sphaerocephalus / Great globe-thistle grows on a sunny & dry spot.

It is 150 cm high! 

We have a tiny, tiny woods near one property border.

I made a path for me and the kitties to walk and shall plant groundgovers & other plants.

Let’s consider this as a before photo, next summer I will show how it looks after.

Happy gardening!

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#colour collage #der natur donnerstag #gartenglück #how to survive november 

#image-in-ing #krapu #makrotex #my corner of the world #tuesday's treasures 

Ahead of the Valtteri Storm

My garden looked this morning a pieceful Winter Wonderland. But as I am writing this at noon, the winds are already rising. Finland will be hit by the worst snowstorm of the winter on Saturday. The Valtteri storm with strong winds will disturb the traffic conditions seriously. It can snow here in Uusimaa / Helsinki area 30-40 centimeters and the temperature fluctuates near zero. The plowing equipment is not able to clean roads and streets very quickly.  I read on the news that there are storms elsewhere in Europe and the United States, too.

I don’t have to go grocery shopping, so I’ll stay warm and cosy inside. I’ll tell later how the storm affected my area. Obviously it will take a long, long time until the first snowdrops appear!

 

UPDATE on Mondy morning:

Over 40 cm new snow, no damages at my place, everything is fine.

Sending warm winter wishes over to you.

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#der natur donnerstag #gartenglück #image-in-ing #krapu 

#makrotex / beautiful  #mosaic monday #my corner of the world #tuesday's treasures 

Garden Joys End May

I have been complaining about the weather, but the rain has been good for the growth.

So many plants are in bloom. Our only old apple tree is bursting with flowers!

Today we have gorgeous sunshine, which made the shadows deep.

I’m very happy with tiny blue groundcovers - forget-me-not / Mysotis sylvatica 

spreads everywhere under the rose shrubs and so does Veronica filiformis.

They help to keep the weeds away.

Tulips are in full bloom: China Town, Queen of the Night, Spring Green

and behind it Purple Doll. With tulips the spring garden looks so cheerful!

I have done some painting outside. We have thick wooden planks separating

some beds from pavement. In 20 years their look had turned very untidy,

so I painted them and am happy with the result.

Wishing sunny weekend with last year’s forget-me-not  bouquet!

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#der natur donnerstag #garden affair #gartenglück #image-in-ing #makrotex 

#saturday’s critters #t in die neue woche #wednesday around the world

Learning about Past Mistakes?

I got this challenge from Kirsti and the theme is Learning about past mistakes.

The challenge was initiated by my namesake Riitta from the blog Garden Living.

Haaste kuuluu:

Kerro siis, mikä meni pieleen ja miksi? Esimerkkejä voi olla yksi tai useampia. Tärkeintä on kerätä huomioita, jotta tänä kesänä meillä menisi paremmin. Haasta kolme seuraajaa mukaan. Jätä vastauksestasi kommenttiin Puutarhaelon kadonneista oppia -haasteeseen, niin tiedän kerätä kaikki vinkit yhdeksi muistilistaksi.

My week point are Japanese maples. In the first photo you see the lime & gorgeous

Acer shirasawanum ’Aureum’. It lasted for two winters. When I dug it up the net surrounding 

the roots was still there - it had not rotten at all. Maybe it was one reason and the other winter frosts.

I have also lost 3-4 purple leaved Japanese maples. The first years I grew them in pot,

but the stairs of my cellar are too difficult. When planted into the ground, they froze the first winter.

Japaninvaahterat vaativat Suomessa ehdottomasti suojaisen mikroilmaston 

tai sitten talvetuksen kellarissa. Meillä tuulee liikaa, vähän päässä naapurissa punalehtinen japaninvaahtera viihtyy kadehdittavan hyvin!

In my post Ei mee ku Strömsössä  (Finnish text!) from 2015 I wrote about 

my disappeared clematis. Nothing like no-show phenomenon, they have really disappeared! 

Among them are Multi Blue, Ville de Lyon, Diana, General Sikorski & Etoile Violette 

- and there are probably more! I don’t dare to think about the money gone waste.

The main reason for poor success is that our soil is moraine / till and under it solid rock.

It is unsuitable for clematis. Even if it rains heavily the water disappears in an instant.

In addition I have not fertilized enough. Clematis need much water and fertilizers!

Sorry, I don’t have anybody to pass the challenge. Hope it is ok.

Kevään kaipuu - Missing Spring

Tämän haasteen on pannut alulle Tiiu blogista Puutarhahetki. Nappasin haasteen 

Kirstin postauksesta. Kiitos kummallekin! Juuri eilen mietin kevättä 

ja mm. niitä lukuisia tulppaanilajikkeita, joita syksyllä istutin. Valokuvia on satamäärin, 

mutta päätin valita kymmenen aiempien vuosien huhti- ja toukokuulta.

This challenge was initiated by Tiiu from the blog Garden Moment. I grabbed the challenge 

from Kirsti's post. Thanks to both! Just yesterday I was thinking about spring 

and e.g. the numerous species of tulips I planted in the autumn. I have a great number of photos, 

but I decided to choose ten from April and May of previous years.

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#all seasons #der natur donnerstag #digitalart dienstag #gartenglück #image-in-ing 

#makrotex / february #t in die neue woche #värikollaasit

New Garden Lighting

It has been a wonderful sunny week, a lot to do but productive.

As I told you in my previous post, me and hubby have been installing new garden lamps.

These were stored in the garage for at least five years, bought on sale years ago.

Installing was a tough job: The lamps are high,  max 250 cm but we put them about my height 
170 cm. They had to be anchored in heavy concrete tiles 40x40 cm. Hubby put two one on the other 
and drilled the anchoring bolt holes. Installing took its time, but I am so happy!

We have three squirrels visiting - this is the best I can do with my camera.

One of them runs all over and Sissi behind on the leash. It is like a game: come and get me!

We covered the concrete tiles with natural stones & crushed stone.

A pair of fake ducks on my pond. One visiting cute dog was a bit afraid of them...

As to flowers a lot is blooming, for you a pink selection.

Wishing you sun and relaxation for the weekend!

❤︎❤︎❤︎

#der natur donnerstag #digitalart dienstag #garden affair #gartenglück #image-in-ing
#makrotex  #t in die neue woche #värikollaasit