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.
It is cold and dark outside. A perfect time to grow Christmas flowers inside while waiting for the spring.
Popov started to bloom and brightens my day. Like the colors it has.
Do not know why but I am becoming fonder of amaryllis each passing year. I guess it simply is that they are big and bold flowers blooming when it is dark and hard to grow anything else.
Must go and buy some more. Cannot have enough amaryllises in the flat.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gardening in the North 