Gardening in the North

This blog is about gardening in the north.

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  • Cyclamen

    cyclamen1

    Time to wait and dream! Nothing much you can do in the garden during the next six months. The long wait for the spring has started.

    What a perfect excuse to start buying flowers to home!

    Picked up a cyclamen from the local grocery store while shopping for the weekend. Just to have something on the table to brighten the day.

    Sadly never been good with the cyclamen. Usually only manage to keep them alive a short time inside and live too far up in the north to grow them outside. Pity, because it is such a beautiful flower.

    cyclamen2

     

  • Sungold

    sungold1

    Autumn has been beautiful. Sunny days and only few rainy ones. The nights are already cold but some of the flowers are still standing.

    Spent the whole day outside enjoying the colors of October and planting bulbs for the spring. Hope they make it through the winter. Was not that successful last year and have selected hardier varieties this time.

    The dwarf sungold sunflowers are blooming. Finally I would say. They made it but only barely.

    Usually I have selected the teddy bear as the dwarf variety but could not find the seeds anywhere in the spring. The two varieties are very similar but teddy bear blooms a bit earlier and that makes all the difference up here in the north.

    The nights are getting long and dark up here in which means that I have plenty of time to start planning for the next summer.

    sungold2

     

  • Twilight Zone

    Twilight Zone1

    Twilight Zone sunflowers made it and finally started to bloom. This was the first summer I planted them.

    A successful experiment even though part of them were lost to moles who seem to be numerous this year.

    As a variety it is small and short. A tiny spectacle among larger sunflowers with a bit peculiar look.

    Still have some seeds left for the next spring. Need to look for more different varieties to experiment with.

    Twilight Zone2

     

     

  • Sea Buckthorn

    Sea Buckthorn1

    My mom got interested in sea buckthorn berries because of the vitamins they have.

    Three years ago I bought her four saplings – one male and three ladies. Two of the plants made it but I was not able to tell if the boy was still alive.

    Sea buckthorn is so called dioecious plant which means that it has male and female plants. You need both to be able to get the berries. The lady bears the berries and the lad – well just hangs around.

    This year we were able to harvest which means that we have a happy couple.

    Because of the thorns picking the berries was not a joyride. My hands are still tender and achy but got the berries from the spiky lady.

    Sea Buckthorn2

     

  • Verdi Glory

    Verdi Glory1

    My Verdi Glory finally started to bloom in the balcony. It took from the dahlia three months to start the show but it has finally started.

    This summer has not been a good one for dahlias. Just the opposite of the last summer that made all the dahlias thrive. At least all mine seem to suffer from various matters like heavy rain fall, mold and pests.

    Well maybe next year will be better. Must have few dahlias growing.

    Verdi Glory2

     

  • Mallow

    Mallow1

    It is always nice to try something new in the garden but as important is to have something that you can count on. A flower that will not fail you no matter the weather.

    Mallow has been there for decades and each summer it blooms with beautiful pink flowers. The only thing you need to do is to support the long stems against the strong rain showers that will so easily bend them.

    I guess I should try another color since there are others available. Something to consider next spring.

    Mallow2

     

  • Ruby F1

    Ruby1

    This is the second summer when I can enjoy sunflowers blooming early.

    Happy that I found Ruby. It grows fast and starts blooming as early as in July. About a month earlier than any other variety I have tried.

    The color of the flower is nearly brown when it opens and it changes to a mixture of yellow, red and orange when days go by.

    Ruby2

     

  • Iris

    Iris1

    This is the first summer that I have planted irises. I do not know why I have not tried them before. To my surprise I managed to keep them alive.

    Well not exactly all of them made it. I planted some in the autumn and some in the spring. Unfortunately none of the ones I planted in the autumn made it through the winter. It seems that the varieties I used were not hardy enough.

    Luckily the spring planting proved out to be successful. The blooms are beautiful.

    I guess I just need to find varieties that tolerate cold winters.

    Iris2

  • Xanthos

    Xanthos1

    My first Xanthos started to bloom today. A new cosmos variety I have tried for the first time and I think it just became a longtime acquaintance.

    Yellow is a totally new color to me when it comes to cosmos.

    This year seems to be dedicated to annuals. I lost so many perennials last winter and had to quickly replace the empty spaces with something. Luckily had tons of cosmos seeds available to hide the damages.

    Xanthos2

     

  • Nano Pink

    Nano Pink1

    My geranium finally started to bloom! It took months from the flower to recover from the darkness of a long winter.

    The poor thing looked pathetic in the spring – pale and dry.

    I started it from a seed and managed to enjoy its beauty last summer. Nice thing about the nano series is that it remains quite small. So in the autumn I took it inside and to my big surprise it survived.

    That usually does not happen to my geraniums. The flat is simply too hot and dry. Happy that this little thing made an exception.

    Nano Pink2