Tag Archives: teddy bear

flower, gardening

Teddy Bear

It has been awhile since I have written. Been traveling a bit and enjoying life.

Autumn is here though the days are still surprisingly warm and the water in the lake is still 20 degrees Celsius. Cannot remember a summer like this.

I was planning to have pictures about late blooming lilies, beautiful lobelias, tall sunflowers and colorful dahlias in my blog. Unfortunately we had a thunderstorm yesterday and it poured tons and tons of hails on us.

Now most of my flowerbeds look like salad bowls and do not have that many things to take photos of. Well luckily it is end of the season so I do not feel bad.

Two dwarf sunflowers made it through the storm so not everything was lost. The teddy bears are the ones that I always like to have in the garden because of their reliability and sweet appearance.

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flower, gardening

Sungold

sungold1

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.

sungold2

 

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flower, gardening

Teddy Bear

Teddy BearThe first frost will come any day now. It has not yet shown itself but you can feel it in the air. It will wipe out the flowers still standing and make us wait seven long months before it will be warm enough for the first spring flowers to bloom.

Our summers are short but full of light. Long days make everything grow fast. Like each day was their last and there would not be tomorrow.

Then comes the winter an endless feeling time period for a gardener. Nothing to do but wait and hope for an early spring.

On this sunny and beautiful autumn day I walked outside saying goodbyes to the few flowers still trying to bloom. Teddy Bear was still standing proudly. This year the summer was too cool for it. Barely it was able to open its flowers on time but there was not enough time for it to produce any seeds for the forthcoming spring.

Luckily I still have some left so I can enjoy its beauty next year as well.

PS. Teddy Bear is one of my favorites. Short but always creating an outstanding show for the audience.

Teddy Bear

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gardening

Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear

I still have a picture of my grandmother standing proudly next to a sunflower twice her height. It helped to have few cows in the farm as a source of fertilizer. After the cows were gone I never saw sunflowers quite that big.

Usually I prefer perennials over annuals but there are few exceptions and sunflower is one of them. I remember the first one I grew from a seed. The seeds were meant for feeding the birds during the winter time but in the spring there were always some left. So I took one and to my big surprise it started to grow. I was so excited. Days went by and my flower grew taller. The bud was the size of my head. Few more weeks and it would bloom. Then came a thunder storm and my beautiful flower was gone.

I was crushed. I could not believe my bad luck. But it gave me an important lesson about growing plants and life in general. Things seldom go as you plan. There will always be surprises. Some of them pleasant and some not. When you grow plants you better be ready for the unexpected.

Years went by but I could not get over my failure. I did not grow sunflowers. Then I saw a Teddy Bear and decided to give it a chance. I planted the seed in to a pot and placed it in to my balcony. This time everything went as planned. I was a proud owner of this short but stunning flower. That summer was warm and long. I even managed to harvest seeds what does not always happen. After that year I have had a Teddy Bear in my balcony or in the summer cottage. I never get bored and it has never failed me making gorgeous flowers every year.

PS. You can buy Helianthus Annuus Teddy Bear seeds from most of the shops. If you plant the flower to a pot, make sure it is a big one. Teddy Bear is a drinker when it gets bigger.

 

 

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