Author Archives: Kari Koskinen

flower, gardening

Ice Follies

This year’s first thunderstorm came early and took me by surprise. Not that strong yet but cooled the air and gave some rain.

The past few days have been nice, warm and summer like. Perfect for gardening and all the spring activities. I sure have plenty to do even though decided to take it easy this year.

Managed to get a week off from work and now in the summer cottage. Seems that I am not the only one in a hurry to complete all the tasks. Most of the birds have already arrived and the nesting season has began. Just love to watch the hustle in the birdhouses.

The daffodil season is at its best. The Ice Follies (Narcissus ‘Ice Follies’) are blooming nicely and the variety has proven to be a good reliable choice.

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flower, gardening

Violet

The spring has finally arrived. It has been a beautiful sunny week up here in the north and it feels good to have all this light and longer days after the winter.

The gardening stores are now opening their doors and since the day was made for spending time outdoors I took a long walk to one of them.

Since it should not be getting too cold during the nights anymore decided to by violets (viola). Even though we still are going to go below the freezing temperatures violets are able to make through them.

Just noticed that I have not posted anything to this blog for ages. Have been too busy working and in the end the gardening season up here is short, less than half a year long.

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flower, gardening

Autumn Joy

Finally managed to spend a weekend in the summer cottage. We have already had the first frosts during the nights and it is time to prepare for the winter.

Not many flowers left but the Autumn Joy (Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’) is still blooming.

It is one of those plants that do not require any care and is at its best in the autumn.

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flower, gardening

Prunotto

Prunotto (Lilium ‘Prunotto’) is the variety that has done best up here in the north for the past few years.

It is blooming beautifully and just love the bright red color it has.

The Scarlet Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii) has given me headaches during the past few years. Luckily I do not yet have it in the summer cottage but it has managed to destroy half of the lilies in my mom’s garden

A beautiful beetle but so hard to get rid of and very harmful for the lilies.

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flower, gardening

Verbena

I am getting more and more fond of Common Garden Verbenas (Verbena hortensis). They have so many colors available in the stores nowadays.

The flower is extremely drought tolerant and therefore very suitable for the summer cottage since I am not always there to water.

I planted this individual to the driest and sunniest spot and it still made it blooming beautifully.

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flower, gardening

Lily

Most of the lilies (Lilium) are at their best at the moment up here in the north. Love the bright colors they bring to the flowerbeds.

Have bought so many varieties that not quite sure which one is which anymore. The main thing though is that they bloom nicely year after year.

For some reason all the lilies grew quite short this summer. Do not know why but the difference to the previous year is considerable.

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flower, gardening

California Poppy

This year I am not able to spend much time in the summer cottage and therefore needed to select varieties that tolerate neglecting.

California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica ‘Aurantiaca Orange’) are easy to grow and do not need much watering. They are ideal flowers for those who cannot be in the garden all the time.

I planted the seeds by the lake to the full sun and the poppies are doing well. They just started to bloom and survived the two week long heatwave without a blink. Just love the vivid color they have.

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flower, gardening

Origami Red and White

Another good year for the Origami Red and White (Aquilegia caerulea ‘Origami Red and White’).

For some reason the variety seems to like to grow up here in the north.

This year the blooming season for the columbines will be short. After a long period of cool weather a two week heatwave hit us and made the flowers to bloom quickly.

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