We have had a beautiful Easter up here in the north. It is not too warm yet but the sun has shone the whole long weekend.
The good weather got me to go to a store and do some shopping.
The first Pansy (Viola) found its way to my balcony. Chose a bright orange one with wrinkled petals this year.
It is slowly getting a bit warmer up here in the north. Days are already long but still few weeks before we can start gardening.
Bought a new pot of Garden Grape-hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) to the balcony and once they have bloomed they end up to the garden.
Enjoy the Easter holidays!
Spring is late this year up here in the north. We still have plenty of snow left and during the nighttime we go below the freezing point.
Hopefully it starts to get warmer soon. It would be nice to start the gardening activities.
Bought one more daffodil variety called Peaches and Cream (Narcissus ‘Peaches and Cream’). The center of the bloom will become darker once the bloom grows older. When opening it is lighter in the beginning.
Lost one of my Christmas cactuses during the winter and decided to replace it with an Easter cactus (Hatiora gaertneri).
Actually I bought two of them in different color but planted them in the same pot. It will be interesting to see how my trial turns out.
Easter cactus is such a carefree flower to have. You just don’t over water it and all will be fine. The long and dark winters up here in the north are a bit challenging though since the cacti love sunshine.
Found one daffodil variety I do not yet have in the garden. Ice Wings (Narcissus ‘Ice Wings’) is a beautiful white variety.
As a triandrus narcissus, it usually carries multiple flowers on every flowering stem.
I am going to continue my hunt for more varieties but decided that three new ones is enough for this year. Otherwise I end up having the car full when I move them to the summer cottage.
It has been beautiful spring day up here in the north. Have spend it walking in the city center and enjoying a restaurant lunch now that the corona restrictions have been removed.
We still have plenty of snow left and need to wait more than a month before being able to do anything in the garden. This winter was white and cannot remember when we have had this much snow.
Noticed Tete-a-Tete Daffodils (Narcissus‘Tete-a-Tete’) in the nearby grocery store and bought the first daffodils of the year.
I will try to find some new varieties this year and do the same thing I do every year. Once the daffodils have bloomed I will take them to the summer cottage and plant them for the forthcoming springs.
Just made it on time to the summer cottage to see the Sunny Boy (Dahlia ‘Sunny Boy’) to bloom before the frost got its hands on it.
Sometimes I wonder why do I bother to grow dahlias up here in the north. The summer is too short and they barely start to bloom and then they are gone. I guess the answer is simple. The blooms are just stunning.
I guess I need to start buying them cultivated in stead of trying to grow them from root balls. This way I could enjoy them all summer. The thing just is that growing plants is part of the fun and when buying them fully grown you loose that part of the enjoyment.
Only one sunflower managed to bloom this year. I had several varieties growing but Autumn was simply too cool for them even though the summer itself was warm.
Luckily Sunspot (Helianthus annuus ‘Sunspot’) grew large and beautiful bloom to save the summer. I had it growing in a large pot with other flowers.
Sometimes this just happens up here in the north. For certain flowers our summer is simply too short sometimes. Better luck next year.
Only few flowers left in the garden after we went below the freezing point few days ago. Luckily the nearby lake helps and since most of the flowers are close enough to it some of them were able to escape the nearly certain sudden death.
Stonecrops (Sedum) are still doing well and blooming beautifully. Unfortunately cannot anymore remember the exact variety of the one in the picture. It is the oldest one I have and the one that made me buy more.
Nearly lost the plant last year but changing it to a dryer place helped. Too many nutrients and too much water were the reasons why it did not do well.
It has been two years since I have been able to travel to the Mediterranean Sea but finally here after a long break.
It is always nice to see completely different flora that you have at home. Something new and something that you unfortunately cannot grow at home.
The Sea Daffodil (Pancratium maritimum) is a flower I have never seen before. After a rainy day they started to bloom on the beach in front of the hotel.
Gardening in the North 