Why orange? Siberian poppy comes in many colors – white, yellow, red. But for some reason only the orange ones are able to make it through the winter.
Do not know why but now all the ones I have are orange. Only in the autumn the colors are many due to the seeds I have added in the spring.
This year I have added many other poppy varieties. Hopefully those will bloom in the autumn. Just have to wait and see.
The slowest ones of the tulips have made as well. Due to the cold weather the blooming season for the tulips has been exceptionally long this year. Normally the tulips are long gone by this time of the summer.
Cool and whimsical weather just seems to continue. Today we have had beautiful sunshine, thunder, rain, hails and temperature is only 12 degrees Celsius.
Luckily the tulips survived the hails. Amazing Parrot is a new variety for me and it made through the winter well. All bulbs bloomed which is quite unusual up here.
Flag tulips are doing well up here in the north. Planted a mix of them in the autumn and they seem to enjoy the shady place under an old apple tree.
Must buy more of them in the autumn to make sure that we can enjoy them in the fourth coming spring.
We are a bit behind the usual summer schedule this year. Tulips usually bloom two weeks earlier and typically they are already gone by the mid-summer.
Well it has been cold and dry spring. Not an ideal one for the garden. Many of the plants were take by the frost but at least some are doing well.
Erythronium tuolumnense is known by the common name Tuolumne dog’s tooth violet. Originally from California Sierra Nevada from the Tuolumne County. Not a native plant to this continent.
I bought the bulb several years ago and ever since it has bloomed every spring. Tried to plant three more last autumn but failed. None of them made it through the winter. Better luck next year. Have to have more of them.
We are still waiting for the tulips. The first ones should start to bloom next week if we are lucky.
The spring has been cold and try. No rain during May. Not a single drop. Coldness and dryness have slowed down the plants and it seems that this will be one of those summers where there will be plenty of challenges for gardeners.
It has been a cool and cold spring up here in the north. Now all the snow is finally gone and the lake is free of ice. The crocuses just started to bloom few days ago but we still have below zero nights.
Luckily that does not prevent me from buying flowers to the balcony. Was not able resist the temptation and bought few verbenas. Hope they make through the nights and survive the bite of cold they are going to face.
Have always admired the verbenas my mom have had. The flower can tolerate heat well and blooms the whole summer. Colors they have are bright and many and I might be able to enjoy the blooms next half of the year.
Now I just wait impatiently that I can plant more delegate flowers. Still few weeks to go for that.
Violet
Violet
The spring is nearly here! Two more months and you can actually do things in the garden!
To manage the excruciating wait I have been visiting shops to ease my pain. On one of those trips I bought a narcissus which turned out to be a beautiful choice.
My challenge was that it is too worm inside and still too cold outside for narcissus. I needed to figure out a place in between. I ended up squeezing the flower between the window glasses and to my big surprise it worked!
The narcissus has been blooming two weeks and it even seems to enjoy the place. Must go and shop for some more…
Days are still short and nights long up here in the north. Few more months to go before you can actually plant something outside. Too dark to grow anything inside yet.
In my desperate need to have flowers in the flat I always end up buying orchids. Just to have something beautiful blooming.
Now back to planning what to grow next summer with a glass of nice vine.
I gapped an amaryllis to go with me while shopping for groceries. When I arrived at home I started to wonder what was the variety of my purchase.
The label just said Merry Christmas. It took me a while and some googling to understand that Merry Christmas was the name of the variety for this one.
Beautiful large and red blooms. A good bargain for the price.
A single bloom and I am thrilled! Usually my Christmas cactus is full of flowers at this time of the year.
Unfortunately last spring my ten-year-old friend started to die and eventually perished. Luckily I managed to take some cuttings just on time.
Now I have two new cacti growing and doing well.
Now my plan is to find an Easter cactus to accompany them. Just learned a trick to tell them apart. It is the shape of the leaf that tells you when you can expect to see the flowers. Never have realized that before.
Gardening in the North 