Though having the May in its name the ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemym ‘May Queen’) starts to bloom in June up here in the north.
The month of June has been exceptionally warm. Usually the weather is quite cool but not this year.
Everything grows fast and soon the lilies will open their flowers.
Bordeaux Barlows (Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Bordeaux Barlow’) is blooming nicely this year. Must try to grow more Aquilegias from the Barlow series.
I have managed to spend two weeks on the summer cottage by the lake and the weather has been great.
I sometimes wonder how much joy and happiness can a small lake bring to your life.
My mother’s parents and her grandparents have a small farm by the lake. The farm is as modest as it can be. My great grandparents established it and my grandparents and now my parents live there. After retiring they decided to move to the farm and be here by the lake.
As a child I spend all my summers with my grandparents while my parents were working. A whole summer taking care of the cows with my gramma and I guess it was her and my other grandmother who thought me my love to grow plants.
I cannot think having a better childhood.
My grandparents from my father’s side have a summer cottage on the other side of the lake. All the grandparents and all the family around the lake made all the difference.
The Blue Barlow (Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Blue Barlow’) is doing well.
I have had a fair share of challenges trying to get it to grow but I think I have finally succeeded.
For the Barlow series we are a bit too north when it comes location and it is hard to get them flourish.
Moss Phlox White Delight (Phlox subulata ‘White Delight’) is blooming at its best at the moment.
It seems to do well in a spot which is only inches away from the lake but receives ten hours of direct sunlight every day.
It is a hard place for any other plant because the temperature rises so high during sunny days.
Up here in the north the day is now nearly 20 hours long and everything is growing with a staggering speed. The summer is short and the time is limited.
Alpine Clematis (Clematis alpina) is blooming and full of bees. Which seem to be absolutely in love with it.
Alpine Clematis can take the cold and is very hardy. Even grows well further up in the north.
I renewed one of the flowerbeds last year and thought that I lost the Snowdrop Windflowers (Anemone sylvestris) that I had.
Luckily few of them started to bloom this year.
It seems to be a very though plant and is not sensitive to rough handling.
Columbine Olympia (Aquilegia ‘Olympia’) also called Lapland’s Aquilegia is used to short summers and is always the first one to bloom.
Originally got the seeds from Rovaniemi, in other words the variety is extremely hardy and can easily take the coldness.
The color is beautiful violet-yellow and the flowers are easily one of the largest ones when it comes to the columbines.
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.
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’).
