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.
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.
Navona (Lilium ‘Navona’) has been a reliable bloomer over the years. It has beautiful large white blooms.
For some reason it has not been a good year for it. I have only few left in the garden and a bit afraid that I am going to loose this variety.
Hopefully it will do better next summer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Summer finally found its way to north. Past few days we have been enjoying 30 degrees Celsius temperatures.
The May Queen (Leucanthemum vulgare ‘May Queen’) finally started to bloom. Nearly a month later than usually.
Oxeye Daisy is a is a native flower to the area and therefore very easy to grow. Though the variety May Queen has been grown from a seed and has a bit bigger blooms.
I do not know why but I lost half of my lupines last winter which was a surprise because they are usually very hardy.
To my delight The Chatelaine (Lupinus ‘The Chatelaine’) started to bloom in the new spot that it was planted this spring.
I am still trying to find more colors. Lupines are so easy flowers for the summer cottage.
The aquilegia season is here. Most of the varieties are at their best and blooming beautifully.
It took me several years to grow the Bordeaux Barlow (Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Bordeaux Barlow’) from the seeds but now I have many of them.
Up here in the north it usually takes three years before this variety starts to bloom. Most of the other varieties already bloom during the second season.
Gardening in the North 