Author Archives: Kari Koskinen

flower, gardening

Christmas Cactus

Christmas cactusSome of us are just so easy and thankful. My Christmas cactus lives in the darkest corner of my flat. Neglected and without any attention or care. Just a drop of water every once and awhile.

Still each year just before the Christmas it starts to blossom reminding me about the coming holiday season. I have never understood why it opens the flowers during the darkest time of the year but it does make me happy and smile. I guess it is his way of reminding me about the beautiful things and its own existence.

PS. It seems that the only way to kill a Christmas cactus is to over water it. Just leave it be and it seems to flourish.

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gardening

Amaryllis

AmaryllisDuring the holidays I simply enjoy the idleness and just relax. I try not to do anything except endorse the laziness and enjoy the company of my family.

While waiting for this quiet time of the year I just love to by the flowers of the season. They are so colorful and give me something to do while waiting for the spring. Amaryllises are something I usually buy. This winter I ended up with two different ones. One I grew from a bulb and the other one I just grabbed from the store.

Both of them now have flowers and brighten my day. With luck I will have them flowering few more weeks.

PS. Bought the bulb from Stockmann. It was a bit expensive but flowers came out strong and many so I guess it was worth the money.

Amaryllis

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Nano Pink

Geraniums

The first snow arrived few days ago and it is dark and cold outside. It is a perfect time to start planning for the next spring. I want my geraniums to bloom early in the summer and this is a right time to start growing them.

There are so many varieties which makes it hard to choose. This time I ended up buying three different colors. The ones I ended up with were Maverick White, Maverick Scarlet and Nano Pink.

I have never grown these varieties before so I am excited to see what I end up having. At least the start has gone well. Germination was supposed to take two to three weeks but it only took three days which took me by surprise.

Geraniums are so easy and thankful flowers. The bloom all the time and tolerate heat and cold. It is the end of November and I still have one blooming in my balcony. It has survived the heat of the summer and first frost.

PS. I bought my seeds from Swallowtail Gardens and each seed germinated and have been happy with my purchase.

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California Wonder

California WonderLast winter I started early. I was determined to grow peppers of my own. I had never tried that before.

I planted the seeds and watched them grow. The first flowers came and soon I had my first pepper growing. I decided to keep only one and gave the others to my friends.

Peppers are delegate creatures. They do not tolerate cold and when I moved the plant to my balcony for more light the end result was bruised leaves. Well, actually I never wanted to have a pepper in my bedroom but there it is. Safe from winds and getting all the attention it demands. Temperamental, as my plant really is, it only produces on pepper at the time. But the fruits are sweet and worth the effort.

PS. Peppers consume high amounts of water and require fertilizing. Large pot makes your life easier.

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Crocuses

Crocus

There are still many things to do before the winter arrives. One of the matters is to find suitable spring flowers for the next year. Options are many and it is hard not to buy everything possible.

I wondered around in a shop and saw what I was looking for. Shelves after shelves of bulbs waiting for planting. I knew what I wanted. I went directly to the crocuses. I wanted something that blooms early right after the snow is gone. Something colorful to wipe away all the whiteness.

Crocuses are reliable. You can always count on them. Usually the blooms only last few days but on those days you appreciate all the bright colors. After few weeks you forget your early friends as other plants conquer the garden hiding the tiny crocus leaves. But you remember your forgotten friends again next year when they are there delighting your spring.

I admit that when I returned home and went online I bought few other bulbs. Just to be sure that I have enough things to wait for.

PS. I bought my crocuses from Stockmann. They usually have good offers for their regular customers.

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Avocados

Avocado

Some salt and a drop of lemon juice. Avocados are so good. I simply enjoy the soft greasy taste of them. And since there is a seed size of a golf ball, naturally I have to try to grow one.

Internet is full of instruction how to get the seed germinate. I spent fee minutes watching how to do it and now I have my first one making roots.

It will be fun watching what I end up having. I live far too north to ever harvest avocados from my tiny little tree but it will be fun seeing it grow.

PS. I like to buy my avocados from Stockmann. Theirs are usually the best ones you can find in the city.

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Pelargonium

Pelargonium

I was not able to resist the temptation. I saw a package of pelargonium seeds in the store. It was December and the darkest time of the year. But still the best time to try to grow pelargoniums for the next summer.

I knew that my apartment with its merciless central heating was way too hot and dry for my experiment. Pelargoniums like a bit cooler and moist growing environment. Anyway I decided to give it a try.

Pelargoniums are survivors. The can take the most relentless hot summer days and tolerate the bite of first frosts. They just keep on blooming where only few flowers make it.

To my big surprise everything went well. All the seeds germinated and each little seedling made it through the winter with the help of my grow light. In the spring I was able place them in to my balcony and enjoy watching them to flourish. Now it is early September and with a bit of luck I can still enjoy their blooms for two more months.

PS. This winter I think I will saw the seeds already in November to ensure that they start blooming a bit earlier. And I guess I will try few more colors since there are so many available.

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Coleus

Coleus

Soon the gardeners will face the toughest time of the year. Snow will cover the ground and several months of inactiveness lays ahead. For some of us it is a blessing and a time to rest. Unfortunately for me the winter is simply too long.

First months go quite well. I spent time with the gardening magazines dreaming and planning. Ordering seeds for the spring – always too many in my greediness. Luckily tablets have opened a whole new world to me. We do not have that many gardening magazines but now I have found the ones in the other northern countries – different and interesting. I have fallen in love with a magazine called Garden Making.

Then I get restless and uneasy. Reading is not enough. I simply need to grow something. Last winter I found a solution and bought a grow light for plants. What a delight! But what to grow that was a problem. Coleus came in to my mind. So this year I have been able to enjoy several different coleus varieties grown from the tiny seeds. I think I will continue my trial this year and try few new colors.

PS. I use Zinio for ordering my magazines. It has worked well and been easy to use.

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Pink Aquilegia

Pink Aquilegia

My addiction! If there would only be one flower I could grow, it would be aquilegia. I am simply compelled by them.

When I was a child there were always pink aquilegias in my grandmother’s garden. Now the garden belongs to my mom and the aquilegias are still there. I loved collecting their seeds and sprinkling them around. The aquilegias were there and you never knew where they were going to grow next. That is what they do. Aquilegias wonder around your garden. They spent few years in one place and then they pop up somewhere else.

Few years ago I decided that I want to see more variations. Pink was not enough for me. I wanted more. Aquilegias do not bloom during the first year up here in the north. So patience is needed. You see the results early in the second year. Luckily aquilegias are not that sensitive to our harsh winters. My rewards for this summer were Yellow Queen and Red Star.

Aquilegias like to mingle. In other words if you place different varieties close to each other they crossbreed. So you never know what kind of flowers you going to get from the seeds. To make sure that I still have my grandmothers beautiful pink aquilegias I have placed some of them far away from the others.

I just keep on buying more seeds – different colors, different shapes and sizes. Next year I am hoping to see White Star and Nora Barlow blooming. This is an addiction I want to nurture.

PS. I have acquired my seeds from several stores. The one I like is seedaholic.com. They have quick delivery and good instructions for planting. I like planting the seeds early in the spring and directly to the place I want them to grow on. Aquilegias do not want to be moved around. 

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Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear

I still have a picture of my grandmother standing proudly next to a sunflower twice her height. It helped to have few cows in the farm as a source of fertilizer. After the cows were gone I never saw sunflowers quite that big.

Usually I prefer perennials over annuals but there are few exceptions and sunflower is one of them. I remember the first one I grew from a seed. The seeds were meant for feeding the birds during the winter time but in the spring there were always some left. So I took one and to my big surprise it started to grow. I was so excited. Days went by and my flower grew taller. The bud was the size of my head. Few more weeks and it would bloom. Then came a thunder storm and my beautiful flower was gone.

I was crushed. I could not believe my bad luck. But it gave me an important lesson about growing plants and life in general. Things seldom go as you plan. There will always be surprises. Some of them pleasant and some not. When you grow plants you better be ready for the unexpected.

Years went by but I could not get over my failure. I did not grow sunflowers. Then I saw a Teddy Bear and decided to give it a chance. I planted the seed in to a pot and placed it in to my balcony. This time everything went as planned. I was a proud owner of this short but stunning flower. That summer was warm and long. I even managed to harvest seeds what does not always happen. After that year I have had a Teddy Bear in my balcony or in the summer cottage. I never get bored and it has never failed me making gorgeous flowers every year.

PS. You can buy Helianthus Annuus Teddy Bear seeds from most of the shops. If you plant the flower to a pot, make sure it is a big one. Teddy Bear is a drinker when it gets bigger.

 

 

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