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My Get Up And Go Got Up And Went

Category: Garden | Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 2:04 pm

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Oh, dear, what a winter we've had. :( It's been very wet, we've had a little snow and lots of snowless frost, and plants have died all over the place.

Last winter was very hard frost-wise, and we lost so many of our darlings. Several others were severely decimated but managed to squeak through.

Last year's summer was a disaster. It was wet and cold. We had a few carrots, and nothing else. The blooms were ruined almost as soon as they opened up, if they managed to open at all. The weeds had the run of the place since I feel I've gotten too old to garden in all sorts of weather. I did that in my 20's and up to mid-30's, but since then I haven't managed to get dressed in thick rain gear and go out there, bar to fertilize.

So we thought we would have a better winter this year since it started out so mild. We didn't take into account that the snow we didn't get in December, January and February decided to appear in late March, spread out through April and ended in early May, complete with frost of course.

I seriously considered giving up gardening altogether. I felt I couldn't take the heartbreak of discovering heirloom plants and rare, expensive ones that had rotted or frozen to death anymore. The feeling of not managing to keep the weeds at bay, of not getting projects finished and just being sorry for all the beauties that never managed to grow beautiful. Oh, yes, I had the blues big time!

Then, after a snowfall during the last days of March I took a stroll outside to do a body count. Again. As I walked about I thought I could hear humming. I stopped to listen, and tried to figure out which direction the humming came from.

As I drew nearer to the sound I thought I could figure out the tune. "Who's humming an Elton John hit in my garden?" I wondered. Then all of a sudden I discovered it:




Helleborus tibeticum ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Poor little hellebore! Almost completely snowed under, looking very sorry for itself. The humming grew a bit stronger and I could clearly hear the words: "I'm still standing! Yeah, yeah, yeah!" *lol*

So I'm back in the garden, whining and moaning about lost plants, decimated darlings and slug-munched sprouts, and when I feel it's all getting too much I straighten up and sing a little song: "I'm still standing! Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

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Returning From Hibernation

Category: Garden | Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 7:06 pm

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Dear Blog,

sorry to have left you hanging for so long, but I've been busy you see.

Last autumn I was busy building the Walls of Jericho border - no bugle allowed within 50 meters of the thing.

This is what I managed to do before the frost suddenly stopped me as early as mid-October:

Step one started:



Step one done:



Step two under way:



And this is what they look like now:





I've promised Lord Paint, four-legged Master of the house to hurry up and complete step three, and will do as soon as I get the time.

This spring started awfully late. We still had winter in mid-April, but then everything exploded. That includes my husband's energy level. He dug a hole, put a plastic water trough inside, and voila! a small pond:



The girls snuck some frog spawn home, so now we're trying to raise the tadpoles.

My husband's energy level didn't get any lower with that little success, so he's started to make a big water feature. I mean big! It looks like a mountain wall so I've nicknamed it Trollveggen, the Troll Wall, a spectacular mountain landscape near Ã…ndalsnes. I wanted a big waterfeature, but I had thought of half the size and dug down, not built up:



The bamboo thingy to the left is a Japanese fountain thing said to scare away bad spirits. So far it's only scared away my energy. I can't find it anywhere. Oh, yes, this is what the top half looks like. It's nowhere near finished mind!



The bottom half looks exactly like this only the other way round. The rocks are supposed to hide hoses and the connection between the two halves. The spirit scarer pours water into the top half pond, then the water runs into the lower half underneath some rocks, and a pump brings the water back up to the spirit scarer which empties the water into the pond and... yes, well. Round and round and round it goes bar in winter when the pond will be empty.

My husband insists on me planting Sempervivum in the cracks. I can't imagine even Sempervivum living there so I think I'll just squeeze in some moss. We've got plenty of moss.

In case you're wondering, this is the real Trollveggen, or Troll Wall:



Then we can talk about my mother. My mother's always wanted a water feature with water lilies. She never managed to make herself one, but decided she'd have a water lily anyways. A yellow one at that. She bough one and planted it in one of our plastic whatchamacallits, just until the pond's done. Our pond. The one my husband's making. Mother's happy. She's got a water lily now, albeit it lives with me. She also wants a red water lily. I guess that will live with me too.

The borders are coming to life, and we're discovering what we've lost during the winter. We've lost a lot! Most of our decorative grasses, some Erythronium, Heuchera, a couple of Hellebores, Hostas, even primroses! A few of the no-shows were bought last year and we never got to see them bloom. But most of our babies survived. Here are a few:

Husband's Jerusalem artichokes survived in a trough:



The P. auricula survived, at least most of them:



Blooming decorative apple tree:



The Empress Wu managed to survive too:



The small Dicentras:



Harebell poppies and Rhododendron:



We've also managed to get the veggie patches ready but haven't planted everything in there yet:



Please note our creative cat deterring fence:



The pumpkins and red Brussels sprouts sprouts will go in in a week's time. Here are the red sprouts:



Well, that's it really. I don't know when I'll have time to update you again, dear Blog, so please hang in there.

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Rottneros, Art and Blooms

Category: Garden | Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 6:44 am

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Rottneros park was created around an idea of making art and artful gardens available to the public. The creator, Svante PÃ¥hlson, rebuilt the manor after a fire in 1929 and bought artwork from Nordic artists, including Gustav Vigeland. The park has changed a bit over the years of course, and the new idea gardens feature was delightful.

Here are some photos from the park, just to give you an idea of how it looks:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



This is a veggie garden:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



A throne fit for a queen:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Not practical for here, but very nice:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



A water feature with mirrors:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Sculptural sedges:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Even I could enjoy a soccerfield like this:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Herbs and spices mostly:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



And we're off into the park itself:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



If I were able to I'd gladly take this sculpture home:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



The mansion:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



This is a lynx statue, not your ordinary lion:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Inside the pavillion:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



My kind of garden art. A chair:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



A trellis?




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Stepping stones:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Rudolf? Moss is a wonderful material:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Anyways, I loved it. Swedish love:




Rottneros, show garden ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



There are more photos in the My Garden-section if you're not bored silly by now.

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Our borders before and after the snow

Category: Garden | Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 2:23 pm

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We've got snow. We've had little snow for the past couple of winters, but we've got it now. With interest. First, a look at our house.

The north side:



The south side:



And now the comparison photos. Here's west-side rock border:



And this is the border today:





Our south-eastern corner:



Today it looked like this:



The Ligularias with the boat-shaped border behind it:



You can still see the cone fir, yes?



And over there is our Hosta path. I do wonder when I'll see that again:



The Empress Wu:






Well, the view is still beautiful though:



And I'm getting very strong arm muscles too.

This blog entry has been viewed 2103 times

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Me and my @£$% mishaps!

Category: Garden | Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:45 pm

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I learned those bad words from Capt. Kirk.

Since we got a lovely, new Cypripedium, and since my mother's determined to see us with a huge orchid collection I thought I'd make an orchid patch with all that lovely pine needle and rotted wood-mulch mother insisted I took home yesterday. And when it was done, I thought that I'd move at least the C. parviflorum to the new home.

So off I went with my little garden shovel and tried to lift the C. p. very gently from where it was growing. And then I had to try harder, and a bit harder, and as I carefully used the little spade (what on earth do you call them?) and my fingers to tease the roots up, my patience evaporated slowly. So I finally took a determined grip underneath that Cypripedium and HEAVED! It came up, and brought the Cypripedium "Ulla Silkens" with it. And not only that, but poor Ulla promptly fell apart too.

So here I am, not a very happy bunny at the moment. The C. parviflorum is split in three, as planned, but our poor Ulla is suddenly down from a nice clump with four spikes to two small clumps with two spikes each. *sigh*

Worst thing is, she's still blooming and should be left in place to bloom out and die down a bit.

I keep my fingers crossed for her, and am going to ask my husband for a stiff gin'n'it as soon as I've had my dinner of chocolate pudding with vanilla sauce and strawberries and cream for dessert. I got to see if I can find some better mood in there somewhere.

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A bit worn and worried today

Category: Garden | Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 8:33 pm

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I've been outside, trying to find out what's what in our garden. The one thing I have found out is that a few of our plants are just demanding too much room, and I'm not willing to grant it.

This is some kind of very invasive, pretty leaf plant that my husband insisted on bringing home. It self-seeds way too freely, and I shall have to dig it up, every bit of it, and plant it in a container somewhere to keep it out of trouble.



And just look at this. The Ranunculus aconitifolius is supposed to be an early bloomer, but it's also supposed to be done when those lilies in the background get as tall as they are now:



The variegated form of Astrantia is way too big for the date, and the columbines will be bloomed out before the lull around mid-summer:



The snowball bush is chock-a-block with blooms, which is nice, but not a month ahead of time:



Our honeysuckle usually spreads it's delightful perfume from mid-summer and onwards into July, but I'll wager it will be done blooming by mid-summer this year:



Ligularia buds in May? Impossible! But not in 2009:



Our delightful little Trollius with the green edge is blooming it's little heart out, and the greenery growing around it is nearly smothering it. *sigh*



As for the Meconopsis, they usually start in early June. This is late May, and they're nearly done. This is M. betonicifolia:



Usually we complain about the lack of summer warmth up here on 62 degrees north, but this year I fear that the summer blooms will be done before summer's here, and the autumn blooms will bloom in summer. Which will leave me with a rather drab autumn.

I might feel this way because I've worked long and hard and nothing seems to show of it today. Or I might take the sorrows in advance. I'm very good at that. But I do feel a bit down in the dumps. Sorry about that, but it's good to let off some steam.

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Pumpkin patch all ready

Category: Garden | Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 6:55 pm

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We've been busy today, converting the youngest girl's sandbox into a pumpkin patch. We managed to get the sand out, removed the bottom cover and started with dead stuff from the garden:




The bottom layer ready ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


Then we hauled the bags of horse dung up and sat them ready for use:





Horse dung, one bag ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Most of the dung added ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Then we added a soil that holds water well but if dry is very hard. It won't dry since it's above the manure but below the top soil:




The water-retaining soil added ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


The top soil is a mix of sand and rich stable compost, and the worms love it. That's my finger:





Big worm! That's my finger ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


We are ready to sow, but where's the gardener-to-be? I found her in front of the TV, with a pile of Barbie dolls and games. *sigh* But out she came, we sowed and put the mini-greenhouse up.





All done. Now grow! ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


I hope her pumpkins will grow for her. We've never sown this early before. I've got extra pumpkin seeds sitting in the bathroom just in case these won't sprout.

While we were at it, we fixed the middle girl's patch too. Ready for carrots:





Ready for the carrot seeds ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Well watered and looking good. The green sprouts are calendula and my mishap-marthagon-bulb-scales-babies:




Carrots sown and watered ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



We had 22C at the warmest today, so we were hot!

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Spring Fun

Category: Garden | Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:05 pm

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I haven't been much of a blogger on the garden front lately, have I? Well, nothing much has happened, so I've had little to blog about, really. But now that the spring cleaning is almost done, I feel a lot perkier and ready to write about stuff again.

The first thing that happened was my mother's phone call. She had dug up a huge hosta, and would I please come get it. Well, thank you mom! I've no room for a huge hosta at the moment, so it's sitting outside in a big bag, wainting for me to dig a hole for it somewhere.

Then I went bananas on the cone pine. Well, it kept poking my back and face when I weeded around it, so I thought it could do with a little cut. My problem is I just don't know when to stop:




Ouch! Still ugly. ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



The crocus are all done now, and their grass looks very untidy. I don't like to cut it, since I believe the bulbs will need the energy from the dying leaves. My grandmother also believed that, and she used a simple trick, the knot:




Granny-knots ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


Foliage out of the way, leaving room for whatever's coming up around it, and when it's dead I just pick up the brown knot and chuck it in the compost. Easy-peasy.

It's blooming outside, and some critters take advantage of that. This particular critter is now dead:





Cheeky snail! ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


I've spent the last few days crushing beetles. Horrible things. They can ruin lilies in no time at all. The grown-ups eat the leaves and lay their eggs, and the greedy, little larvae finish the lily off. So I've got lots of dead, red things out there:





The dreaded lily beetle ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



Now, for the blooms. We've got a few of those, fortunately. The primroses are well on their way:




Red primulas ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Primula lilacina ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Primula marginata ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Double, sweet pink Primula ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Double white Primula ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )






Double dark red Primula ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


Then there's my beloved Canadian:





Sanguinaria canadensis ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


And our sweet, timid Japanese:





Hacquetia epipactis "Variegata" ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


This is an American:



Trillium pusillum ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )


I don't know where this originated from, but it's cousin grows wild in our woods.



Anemone nemorosa monstrosa ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



And now for a dire warning. When picking wild Lily-of-the-valley seven years ago, I accidentally pulled out a couple of roots. I took them home and planted them. Now they've invaded my husband's Crocosmia Lucifer and is spreading like wildfire:




Invasive Lily-of-the-valley ( photo / image / picture from Droopy's Garden )



I've got lots and lots of digging to do here, and I have to move them to somwhere where they can do as they please.

Well, that was my season well and truly started. Hooray!

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How to break a little girl's heart

Category: Garden | Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:23 pm

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Our plum tree had gotten way too tall and wide, and we knew we would have to take action this autumn. We should have dealt with it every year of course, but life isn't always what it should have been, so the tree has been neglected. We weren't prepared for the masses of plums we got this year, though, and we were certainly not prepared for snapping branches. The poor tree has been looking rather lop-sided and sorry, and I've tried to gather courage to actually do something to it.

Yesterday I had that courage, so I dug out the alligator saw and some long cords and set to work. I started by removing the snapped branches, and continued to saw off the rather thick, straight upwards-growing branches before finishing off with a couple of rather big limbs that grew in the wrong direction. The tree crown looked a lot more harmonic and the tree ended up being about 4 meters tall instead of 7. I was very pleased with my efforts as I started to cut the sawn-off limbs and branches into smaller, more managable parts.

Suddenly I realized that my youngest sat in the plum tree and cried. I switched the saw off and went over to check if she'd hurt herself. The poor, little thing cried so hard she could hardly breathe, let alone talk, but managed to tell me that I had ruined her tree! I had cut off both her favourite branches and now she wouldn't be able to climb so high anymore. No matter how I reasoned with her she kept going. In the end I admitted defeat and went to fetch me some coffee. The poor girl still sat in the tree and cried. Our neighbour came out to try and offer some comfort, but to no avail. The little one cried for an hour and a half, and I felt like the worst mother in the world!

I'm afraid that next time I dig out the saw the girls will chain themselves to their favourite trees. Being a gardening mother isn't always a lot of fun. *sigh*

This blog entry has been viewed 1502 times

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My very special lily

Category: Garden | Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:57 pm

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I know I'm not alone in growing plants that hold a special meaning. This oriental lily, "Journey's End", is planted in memory of my father:



When he died at the age of 51 nearly 15 years ago, this lily was on his coffin. When I found the bulbs offered some years later, I was quick to order them. When it blooms, it reminds me of him. He's put to rest in another country, but the lily gives me a feeling that he's near us. It makes me both happy and sad, as loss and memories often do.

This blog entry has been viewed 732 times

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