Wild blueberries started to bloom today and the summer cottage is now surrounded by butterflies, honeybees and bumblebees all having a feast.
It has been long time since I have seen this many of them and to me it appears that the populations have recovered.
Also the Siberian Squills (Scilla Siberica’) are blooming. Simply adore the blue color they have.
The summer is finally arriving to the north. We have had two beautiful and warmish days in a row. Nature is starting to get its green color.
Cold weather is always good for the daffodils. They simply bloom longer.
Pink Charm (Narcissus‘Pink Charm’) is at its best and seems to enjoy the weather as do I.
The first tulips are slowly starting to bloom. The month of May has been cold up here in the north and during many nights we have gone below the freezing point.
I have finally managed to plant all the flowers for the summer. Have several raised flowerbeds and it sure has been a task to have them renewed. I usually change the soil after five years to prevent the roots of the nearby trees to take over.
Pinocchio (Tulipa ‘Pinocchio’) is now blooming though not yet as red in color as it gets later on.
Also been laughing a lot. Few years back someone made a spelling mistake with the name of our county. For some reason Mäntyharju (Pine Ridge) was spelled Mäntyharja (Pine brush) in Facebook and Instagram. Now in half of the posts we have as the location the Pine brush version 😂
Made a cycling trip to the local hardware store today and my guess was right. The African Marigolds (Tagetes erecta) had arrived.
Bought some for my mom and some for my own balcony.
They are very resilient and tolerate the direct sun well. The color scheme that was available was very nice this year.
Still have few daffodils that have not opened. It has been a cooler period up here in the north which is good for daffodils. The ones that have started to bloom simply bloom longer when the weather is colder.
Monal (Narcissus’Monal’) started to open its flowers. The colors are bright and it sure stands up.
One more week to go and then I am able to spend a week in the summer cottage. Cannot wait for that.
Daffodil Ice King (Narcissus ’Ice King’) just started to bloom and it is a very interesting one.
It is a new purchase I made few weeks ago. Actually never seen this variety before.
Daffodils are many and it seems that I just keep on buying more. This one goes to the summer cottage and hopefully it will bloom again next year.
Crocuses (Crocus vernus) are at their best. Only have few colors in the garden.
I would love to have more of them but the flowering season is very short and usually I manage to miss it and fail see them blooming.
Therefore I prefer daffodils. They bloom longer and are more tolerant to the climate.
Surprisingly the winter was so warm that all the hens and chicks made through it. Usually we loose at least some of them.
We only went down to -16 degrees Celsius which is about 15 degrees warmer than usually.
I decided to have one more variety of hens and chicks (Sempervivum calcareum ‘Bicolor’).
It still is cold up here in the north. Last night we went down to -3 degrees Celsius and during the day we only have about 5 degrees.
I managed to come to the summer cottage for a long weekend. This is a good time for gardening though it is so cold that you end up spending half your time heating the cottage.
Tête-à-tête (Narcissus Tête-à-tête) is the first daffodil to bloom and the others have not yet started. It is a bit pity that during the winter we usually loose half of them because they are not the hardest ones.
Gardening in the North 