Found the first Petunia (Petunia) for the balcony.
I usually have few of them each year. Petunias are reliable bloomers and tolerate heat well.
They also become a bit sticky and usually this protects them from the pests.
Author Archives: Kari Koskinen
African Marigold
Made a cycling trip to the local hardware store today and my guess was right. The African Marigolds (Tagetes erecta) had arrived.
Bought some for my mom and some for my own balcony.
They are very resilient and tolerate the direct sun well. The color scheme that was available was very nice this year.
Monal
Still have few daffodils that have not opened. It has been a cooler period up here in the north which is good for daffodils. The ones that have started to bloom simply bloom longer when the weather is colder.
Monal (Narcissus’Monal’) started to open its flowers. The colors are bright and it sure stands up.
One more week to go and then I am able to spend a week in the summer cottage. Cannot wait for that.
Kiss Me
Kiss Me (Narcissus ‘Kiss Me’) is a beautiful light yellow daffodil.
It is getting warmer and during the nights we have stayed above the freezing point. All this means that the plants are waking up and trees starting to get their leaves.
Summer is finally arriving and hopefully it will be a beautiful one.
Ice King
Daffodil Ice King (Narcissus ’Ice King’) just started to bloom and it is a very interesting one.
It is a new purchase I made few weeks ago. Actually never seen this variety before.
Daffodils are many and it seems that I just keep on buying more. This one goes to the summer cottage and hopefully it will bloom again next year.
Spring Crocus
Crocuses (Crocus vernus) are at their best. Only have few colors in the garden.
I would love to have more of them but the flowering season is very short and usually I manage to miss it and fail see them blooming.
Therefore I prefer daffodils. They bloom longer and are more tolerant to the climate.
Hens and Chicks Bicolor
Surprisingly the winter was so warm that all the hens and chicks made through it. Usually we loose at least some of them.
We only went down to -16 degrees Celsius which is about 15 degrees warmer than usually.
I decided to have one more variety of hens and chicks (Sempervivum calcareum ‘Bicolor’).
Tête-à-tête
It still is cold up here in the north. Last night we went down to -3 degrees Celsius and during the day we only have about 5 degrees.
I managed to come to the summer cottage for a long weekend. This is a good time for gardening though it is so cold that you end up spending half your time heating the cottage.
Tête-à-tête (Narcissus Tête-à-tête) is the first daffodil to bloom and the others have not yet started. It is a bit pity that during the winter we usually loose half of them because they are not the hardest ones.
Wild Daffodil
We had few warm nights and it did wonders. Daffodils are starting to bloom and it is such a delight to walk outside.
Bought this daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) from Ikea more than a month ago but finally it decided to open its flowers.
Like the color it has. Such a bright colored variety.
Violet
There are so many different color options for Violets (Viola) but I think that I now have the ones selected for this summer.
I have been going to different shops and finding out the options for this season.
Will have most of them in pots in the summer cottage, now that the isolation of the capital area is over and it seems that we are able to travel again.
Still more than a week to go before I will have a long weekend to spend over there. Simply cannot wait time to pass.
Gardening in the North 