Year: 2017

Dec

2017

Is this winter?

Saskatoon. Very green leafbuds… Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

Is this winter? I mean, this weather is as far from winter as it can get. Yes, there has been cold days. Yes, there HAS been some snow. But most of the time the temperature is above zero centigrades and it is raining, raining, raining. When you got into the garden and step on the ground it feels like stepping on some spongy material. The ground is SO wet. All these pictures were shot yesterday on December 30th.

The garden is ugly this time of the year. BUT you already see traces of what will come in spring. It is a long time until then though.

Verbena and digitalis. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The giant verbena is still alive even though it is not blooming. I see the beginnings of next years digitalis in several places.

Flowerbed, December 30th, 2017. Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

The flowerbeds are really ugly and everything is withering even though some plants still stand.

Ajuga reptans. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

This plant above plant, Ajuga Reptans, is beautiful also in winter with there dark lilac leaves. There was some frost on them when I shot this picture.

Alumroot. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The alumroots look fine also at the end of December. Less colorful, but still alive.

Alumroots. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

We have four different alumroots, each a different color. The above ones are a little bit flatted by frost and the earlier snow, but otherwise looking fine for winter.

Digitalis. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

Next years digitalis have come up in several places.Their leaves are really big. Just hoping they will get flowers in the summer.

Giant Poppy. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The giant poppy did not bloom last year. I hope it will bloom the coming year. It was bought as a ready plant, not sown by seed.

Winter in the flowerbed.Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The flowerbed by the parking looks terrible… But there are traces of plants to come.

Blackberries. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The blackberry bushes have large buds for next years leaves.

Astilbe. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The astilbeflowers from last year have an interesting color…

Raspberries. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

These are the raspberry-bushes in winter. We got almost no raspberries last summer. Hoping for more the coming summer.

What? Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

In one of the flowerbeds I yesterday found this round, white thing. What it is? Probably a flowerbulb of some kind that somehow has escaped the earth… I covered it with new soil today to protect it. Size approximately 5 cms in diameter.

By the birdfeeder. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

By the birdfeeder the vegetation is just unordered…

Climbing hortensia in winter. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The climbing hortensia at the backside of my patio is all naked in winter. It has large buds though for next years leaves, and, hopefully, more flowers the coming year. This year it had three flowers.

Winter snow. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The snow remaining from the latest snowfall a couple of weeks ago, is dirty, but frozen and filled with sand. It will probably stay like that until some time in April… This where the snowplows leave the snow they have removed from the parking. Other parts of Sweden has got a lot of snow this year. But here, just outside Stockholm, very little.

The rhubarbbox. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The rhubarb-box has no rhubarbs that you can see during winter. But they are there… It also houses my neighbours carnations over winter plus her thyme and oregano.

Winterflowers… Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The sedum telephium are still standing, but look awful. The little snow we had destroyed them.

Pansy in bloom in December. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I found some pansies in bloom. Are they supposed to bloom at the end of December?

Flowerbeds at the entrance. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

This is how the flowerbeds at the entrance to the patio from the garden look like in winter (when there is no snow). Not particularly inspiring…

Flowerbed at the entrance. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

But, if you look closely, there are green leaves and and plants coming up here.

The yellow honeysuckle. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The yellow honeysuckle has green leaves where I cut it. Not only here (picture) but on several other places as well.

Beach rose. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The beach roses in the backgarden really look tired. As they should in winter. No leaves, just molten fruits. In spring I will cut down the bushes to about 20 cms heights. Or dig them up and remove them…

Treestumps on the patio. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

These treestumps normally stand in the garden with flowerpots on them. Over winter I keep them on the patio. They are getting old. Nature changes them. On one of them moss has started to grow…

There are more things alive in the garden at the end of December than one might think. Here are some examples.

Mint

Crocus

Thyme

Parsley

Oregano

Carnations

Moss on treestump

Crocus

Parsley

Lemon balm

I actually prefer so called green winters to winters with lots of snow and really cold weather. But for the garden, snow is better. It protects what grows there. There might still come snow… But not in 2017…

Dec

2017

Hans Grosin, Hanseman, January 1945 – November 2017

Hans Grosin. Picture borrowed from his FaceBook page.

Hans Grosin, called Hanseman in our youth, was born on January 1945 and died on November 13th 2017.

On Dec 22nd 2017 I read the morning-paper and found a memorial text about my old friend Hans Grosin. On further investigation (Google and the Internet) I found out that he passed away on November 13th 2017. A year and some days since our mutual friend Elge passed away. The memorial text (in Swedish) was about his professional life as a psychotherapist and his house on Gotland (Swedish island).

On our last communication (via FaceBook Messenger on October 14th, 2017) he said, among other things, that he was missing Elge. And that he got tired and had problems breathing just by sitting down. He mentioned his lack of fitness also sometime in the summer and I recommended him to get more exercise. I don’t know what caused his death, but apparently he had health problems.

Hans, Ninna and Elge, 1964. Photo: ©nini.tjader.1964

Hans and I were never very tight. At first he was the close friend of Elge, which then was my boyfriend, and then the boyfriend of Ninna, which then was my closest girl-friend and later became the girlfriend of Elge after she and Hans separated. Complicated to say the least. Hans and I had a very shortlived fling some time there when our respective boyfriend/girlfriend left us for each other. It didn’t last though, but we remained friends.

Elge and Hans, Februari 1963 on the beach in Israel. Photo: ©nini.tjader.1963

In January-February 1963, all four of us, Elge, Hans, Ninna and I, went to Israel. We went there by boat and we stayed at House Bankier outside Tel Aviv by the parents of our mutual friend Channa Bankier (who also was there). That house was our basis during the months we stayed in Israel. We went on to a kibbutz (Gvar’am in southern Israel), where we stayed for a couple of weeks, until we decided to leave the kibbutz and the work and hitchhike around in Israel and visit other friends who also were there at various kibbutzim at that specific time. We then split up in pairs. It was Elge and me, and Ninna and Hans.

Hans on the beach February 1963. Photo:©nini.tjader.1963

We returned to Sweden some time in the spring of 1963. By that time Ninna and Elge became a couple and Hans and I went different ways.

I’ve been in contact with Hans on and off over the years. Elge and Hans remained friends and had a business together for some time. I spoke with Hans around the time that Ninna died, and later tried to teach him how to use his computer (he was very un-technical) at his home, then again communicated on and off via FaceBook and around the time when Elge died. Actually FaceBook created more communication between us all the last couple of years.

Now he, Hans, too is gone, just like Ninna and Elge. Of us four only I remain. And then a few others of the friends from then. That feels strange. That is the nature of things though when you get older. One by one they disappear.

Dec

2017

Flexible sofa daybed from Ikea

Flexible sofa daybed. Photo: IKEA

Ikea recently announced a very flexible and useful sofa daybed. Here in Sweden it will be introduced on Feb 9th 2018 and according to the information be sold for two years. Which means you don’t have to rush it to get one if you want one…

Flexibel sofa daybed. Photo: IKEA

I totally fell in love with it.

On February 9 th 2018 IKEA and Tom Dixon announces DELAKTIG: An open ”platform for life”, based on a frame of aluminium. The idea is that DELAKTIG will challenge design-conventions in the furniture branch and welcome everyine to add functions of their own or totally change it.

IKEA and Tom Dixon have also designed add-ons which complement the platform. The add-ons can be combined in several different ways. Add armrests and a lamp. Add a table and new cover for the back-pillow. Change position of the armrests. Change the armrests. Add more pillows. Or change the cover.

Salestart: February 9th 2018
Salesperiod: 2 years

soifa, daybed, furniture. ikea, tomdixon

Flexible sofa daybed. Photo: IKEA

This one would be the perfect sofa-daybed-guestbed in my livingroom as I see it.

Of course I need to see it in real life, sit on it and feel its materials, see the colors in reality, before I make up my mind. But on pictures it looks just perfect.

Flexible sofa daybed. Photo: IKEA

I like the simplicity and clean lines of it. And I like the flexibility.

Flexible sofa daybed. Photo: IKEA

If I get this one I have to get rid of the KARLSTAD 2-seater i presently have (which I recently had the cover cleaned for SEK945 as it was really dirty). I know selling used sofas online is a more or less dead market and you get next to nothing for a used sofa, if you at all manage to sell it. But to get a new sofa in, the old one has to go.

Sofa daybed. Photo:IKEA

It comes in light grey, dark grey or blue and in various sizes.

Sofa daybed. Photo. IKEA

Download the IKEA_pressmaterial_DELAKTIG_Tom_Dixon_9feb_2018 in Swedish for more details, ictures and prices here.

Dec

2017

Xmas decorations

Xmas decorations 2017. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

Xmas decorations… It is that time of the year again… approaching Xmas. I don’t actually do Xmas. At this very dark and gloomy season, some lights and colors and decorations really are needed to brighten up your immediate surroundings though. All the lights are important. I have lights along the railing of my patio (no picture presently), and the neighbour and I also have light on the inside of the fence from my place almost unto the parking (no picture of that either).

Xmas pillows. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I brought out all the red pillows and all the xmas decorations from previous years and went ahead and started to place them.

Tree in a paperbag. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The small xmastree in the paperbag was also brought out. All ready with its decorations from previous years. Just had to take it out of the bag and connect it to the electricity.

Amaryllis in the bathroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The fake amaryllis were placed in the bathroom. Fake flowers are the only kind I can have in the bathroom as it has no natural lighting. These fake amaryllis actually look pretty natural. I have no real amaryllis this year which I normally use to have. I simply lack space for more flowers and plants.

Xmastree with lighting. Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

The housing coop also put lighting in our little firtree out on the lawn where you get in from the buses. That ugly yellow plastic-tube holds the electric cable… Will be dug down into the earth under the grass in spring they say. It was too late in the autumn to have it done before this Xmas. That tree is actually a live tree with roots and all. So it will stand there for years to come, provided it survives.

Entrance hallway. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The entrance hallway got an update with another door-curtain (the black and white one needed cleaning), a red pillow on the chair and a fake xmas flower on the small shelf on the wall. Enough for Xmas decorations, right? The carpet/doormat inside the door is there the year around and not specifically for Xmas.

Xmas decorations. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The opening from the hallways into the livingroom got the star-curtain with lights plus the big red balls. Previous years these have been placed in the livingroom window. This year there were too many figtrees in the way to place them there. The opening to the livingroom got them instead.

Xmas decorations in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I normally have a star with light in each kitchen window… Not this year. There are too many plants in the kitchen-windows this year. I managed to squeeze in the electric candles of the one above though.

Candles on the kitchentable. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The candles on the kitchentable have been there since summer. They will stay there for some time still. The picture above was shot before I threw out the three remaining orchids. Those are now gone as I got really tired of them.

Advent candles in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The advent candles also took their place on the kitchentable. I also changed the cloth on the kitchentable to a red one.

The supermoon. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The first of advent coincided with the appearance of the supermoon. I went to Xmas-luncheon with the board of the housing coop (I do the coops web which qualifies me to participate). When we left the place were we ate, the moon was there, just in front of us. It was hard to take a picture of it with the iPhone and all the surrounding lights… I looked for it also when I got home but by then the moon was hidden by the clouds. The next opportunity to see a supermoon will be by the beginning of January they say.

Star in the bedroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader,2017.

In the bedroom window I have one large star with light. That is all. No other Xmas decorations there.

Star in the bedroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I love that large star that covers the entire bedroom window. It also gives a lot of light when it gets dark outside. Everyone can see it from the busstop on the other side of the road when it is lit…

Lightbomb. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

When preparing all the seasonal decorations I noticed that the “lightbomb” (picture above) got a problem. The filter between the metal that holds the cord that burns had crept up and out of the “lightbomb” and actually kind of “melted” … I removed it and the metalpiece that holds the burning cord no longer has a filter between it and the ceramic bulb. How safe is that I wonder? The bulb is filled with lampoil. Can it explode when burning? I’ve place it on a ceramic plate just for a bit more safety and never leave it unattended when burning (as you shouldn’t with any burning candles by the way).

What did I do in the livingroom?

What I did in the livingroom you can see below. I will still adjust a few details in the livingroom, but that is all. By January I will be fed up with the reds and go back to my normal color theme of grey, white and black… (Reload page to sort the below images differently).

The small Xmastree

Pillows

Candles

Pillows

Dec

2017

New in the livingroom

New in the livingroom. A new curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I do not use curtains all that much. When I do, they are usually all white without any patterns or colors.
But… the last time I passed by IKEA I fell in love with a textile I saw. Black and white with a graphic pattern on it. So I bought it.
I bought 2,840 cm of the textile. I didn’t remember the exact height from ceiling to floor so bought more than I needed. It is called INGVILL and is 100% cotton. Total cost SEK139,16.

At first I intended to use it in the entrance hallway, but re-thought its placement and tested it in the livingroom.
And liked it. So after a few seems at top, sides and bottom, and some ironing, the livingroom got a new curtain.
And I love it.

I still have enough left of it to sew a pillowcase as well.
A cheap way to renew the livingroom.

The natural light this time of the year is very poor and almost non-existing which makes it really difficult to take pictures the way I prefer. The lack of light also kills plants. The one closest to the door to the patio is gone after I shot the above picture. It just died.

Detail of new curtain in the livingroom. Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

Nov

2017

My figtrees

The oldest figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I’ve written about my figtrees before. Just have to write about them again. The one above is my oldest figtree. It has been cut twice now.

Figtree cutting May 20178. Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

My figtrees live outdoors on the patio during the warm season and I bring them indoors when autumn and cold comes, but before the frosts. My oldest figtree has a tendency to grow in the “wrong direction” which makes it take up too much space. Particularly when it is indoors. Had I known how easy it is to take cuttings from it and grew new figtrees, I would have done it earlier.

According to the expertise figtrees should be kept dark and cold but not freezing over winter. As I do not have such a place to store them, they are kept indoors over winter with extra special plant lights.

First time I cut it was spring 2017, some time in March I think it was. Image above is from May 20th 2017. That is about the time I planted the cutting in a pot of its own. Originally it was two cuttings but one of them died.

Planted figtree cutting, May 2017. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

End of May was also the time when the older and larger figtree moved outdoors.

The larger figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

To begin with I placed it under an umbrella to protect it from the strong spring sun. The year before I didn’t do that which resulted in burned leaves that quickly fell off.

New branches on the old figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Where the old figtree had been cut, new branches and new leaves grew out pretty fast. The old figtree lost a lot of leaves at the beginning of the summer. That was expected. Happens when it has been indoors all winter and not losing its leaves to any great extent (which it normally should).

The oldest figtree had two figs on it when the tree moved outdoors. Not edible… tasted really bad.

The new small figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The new, small figtree came along fine and new leaves and branches grew on it.

The small figtree on August 8th 2017. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

Above is how it looked on august 8th 2017. Just like the motherplant it has a tendency to grew sideways…

Figleaves on the older figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The older figtree woke up as late as the end of August and then started to grew new leaves and branches. A bit late…

Sometime in October it was time to move the figtrees indoors again and give them extra lighting. I thought that October could not be a good time to cut the big tree and make new cuttings, but I took the chance and cut it anyways. I needed to make it smaller to be able to store it over the winter.

Figtreeleaves. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Moving indoors of course meant losing some leaves now and then. Figtreeleaves are beautiful.

The old figtree with new leaves. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

By the middle of October the older figtree had plenty of small new leaves and branches growing on it.

Figtreecuttings 2017-10-23. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The cuttings from the older figtree also grew and got roots on all of them. They are four cuttings. I would never have thought that it would work to take cuttings in October and get roots on them as fast as I did.

Fig 2017-11-07. photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The older tree got one fig… I doubt it will be edible …

As the roots on the four (4) cuttings grew larger and stronger I decided to plant them all by the beginning of November.

Planted figtreecuttings 2017-11-22. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

All four cuttings were planted in the same pot. We are now on November 30th, and they seem to have survived the move to the pot and have only lost one small leaf so far. And they have all new leaves too.

The older figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The older and larger figtree is coming along fine and just grows and grows and grows where it was cut… It has grown a lot since I cut it.

They are all alive and thriving. Just hoping they will continue to do so and survive this dark period indoors.

Nov

2017

Frosty morning

Frosty morning. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

It was a frosty morning yesterday and today. Today I managed to go out and catch some pictures of the frost as I was up and about much earlier than usual as I had to meet the guys who are installing a radon sucker thing in the house-ground just under my bedroom. Had to give them access to measure where the floor is and to check from where to take electricity and to provide them with water as that side of the house doesn’t have any outside water. I used the time before they arrived to go out shoot some pictures of the frost. As much as I dislike winter, cold, snow the frost is still beautiful.

Here is some of what I saw this morning. Reload page to make pictures re-sort themselves.

Frost IS beautiful.

Frosty morning, November 9th, 2017. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

Oct

2017

The chaise longue is now gone

The chaise longue. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The chaise longue is now gone. Sold it on Blocket.se and it was paid for and collected on Friday past. It has now gotten a new life in Norrköping.

The chaise longue. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I bought it when I lived at Vårby Gård where I had a larger livingroom than here. It is very comfortable, but too short to sleep in (except for short whiles in front of the TV). I bought it with white cover. Later, after I moved to the present flat, I had a new lightgrey cover done and bought from Bemz. Bemz does covers for Ikea furniture in lots of qualities and colors and patterns. Ikea no longer makes this model of the Ektorp chaise lounge with an arm rest. They already didn’t when I wanted an extra cover for.

The chaise longue with light grey cover from Bemz. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The last couple of years I’ve on and off considered selling the chaise longue because it took up too much space in the livingroom. And now I finally got around to putting it up for sale. It took a couple of weeks before I had a buyer, but in the end it went out the door and I could make the changes in the livingroom that I wanted to do.

The livingroom without the chaise longue. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

My livingroom became an entirely new room without the chaise longue. So much new space… So airy…

The livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The fitnessbike also got a new placement which opened up the entire space in front of the bookcase.

The fitnessbike. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I placed the fitnessbike at the spot where the smaller chair (Ektorp Jennylund from Ikea) used to be. Also from here I can watch the TV when on the bike. (That is important as it is SO boring to be on the bike).

The livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The chair is in a much better place now and I can also use the foot-rest the way it is supposed to be used (instead of having it hidden more or less under the sofa-table by the TV). This became a very inviting spot to sit.

The livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I had more plans for moving the furniture around, but I won’t do that just now. I am presently happy with how it turned out now with the chaise longue gone.

The livingroom window. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

A bonus with this change is that I got better space for the plants that live in front of the livingroomwindow over the winter season. The largest aloe vera, which for a couple of months has been living in the bedroom, now has been moved back to the livingroom and placed near to the floor in case it would fall over (it is very unstable).

Gustav (the neighbours male cat) came in briefly on Saturday and stopped in the door looking very disturbed. His chair was not where it used to be and there was a fitnessbike there instead, and the chair was moved… He ran out fast. He, like most cats, does not like changes. He has been in with his owner after that, and that went much better. In the end he will accept the change.

The livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Even in the evening the larger plants are now visible instead of being hidden behind the back of the chaise longue. Both the aloe vera and the figtrees have special plant-lighting to enable them to survive winter indoors with poor light conditions.

One of the reasons to get rid of the chaise longue was to get space for an eventual guestbed… But I won’t place a guestbed here after all. On the other hand, if I move the fitnessbike, there is good space there for an inflatable guestbed in that spot.

I’ve also moved around a lot of the lamps and lightings to get them in better spots. Having good light in all corners is important. I have one smallish table too much and one floor-lamp too many. Presently I don’t know where exactly they will end up. I also suddenly have too many cushions as there is no chaise longue any more to put some of them on.

I am happy with this change of the livingroom. It feels so much more inviting now than it did before I got rid of the chaise longue.

The livingroom at night. Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

Oct

2017

Plants & Words

Plants & Words. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

This seasons #urbanjunglebloggers assignment is Plants & Words (#plantsandwords).

I don’t really “do” words in that way. Particularly not together with plants or about plants either. I don’t like having words on my walls, no matter what they say. I have always avoided having them. But I have one poster on one of my walls, the one above with only words on. It hangs just above a picture with summer flowers. So in a way they are plants and words… or?

Bedroom window. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

I do plants though. And this time of the year it is pretty over-crowded with plants everywhere in my flat. Above is in my bedroom window where the pelargonias from outdoors are resting over the winter and some figtree cuttings are sprouting roots in vases. In the window aloe vera and cactuses.

The kitchen windows. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The kitchen windows are a jungle of plants. I keep moving them around presently to find the best solution. Some of the plants that have been outdoors over summer have been moved indoors. Some survive it, some die when they get indoors. Like the myrtle tree in the left window. It didn’t survive getting moved indoors so that window already looks different than in the picture. One of my rosemary plants also died when moved inside.

The livingroom window 2017-10-09. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

In the livingroom window the figtrees (two of them) take up a lot of space. Also here I have changed the look since the picture above was taken and the pelargonia got a new owner in town. This spot is changing (see previous blog post) all the time.

But combining the plants with words? No. Not really. Just two posters in the whole flat that have words on them. The one below is Russian about May 1st. What else it says I have no idea. As I don’t understand (or read) Russian it is not so disturbing to have on the walls as something where you can actually read and understand its content. It is a dark spot so no plants would survive there.

So plants and words? No. No words in my space. Plants though I’ve got plenty of…

Russian poster about first of May. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Oct

2017

The livingroom window

The livingroom window 2017-10-23. Photo.©nini.tjader.2017

I have one window and one door to the patio in the livingroom. The livingroom window has a double marble windowsill. The window is west-facing out to the patio. I use that window for various flower pots that change over time with the seasons. Less flowers in the summer, more in the winter and a varying amount of pots in spring and autumn. In the autumn I move pots indoors before winter comes which adds to the number of plants there. In the summer I move pots outdoors which reduces the number of pots. In short: what is in that window change over the seasons.

To get more space for pots and plants I added a sideboard a couple of years ago. Over the cold season I also use some elevated plant-stands in front of the window for some of the larger plants, like the figtree for instance. Under the sideboard I keep the bird-food and some garden utensils that cannot be kept outdoors.

Here are some pictures of how the livingroom window changes over time.

The livingroom window 2017-03-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The red oxalis was just coming awake after winter and looked a bit decimated here.

The livingroom window 2017-06-15. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

In June the red oxalis looked much better. Here I also had moved down the Stephanotis Floribunda from its hanging position as it got too heavy to hang in the window after repotting with fresh earth. The fig trees by this time were outdoors again.

The livingroom window, 2017-07-10. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The red oxalis kept on growing after being re-potted. And so did the Stephanotis.

The livingroom window 2017-08-05. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

By the beginning of August my two stephanotis switched locations. The one that was here was moved to the kitchen and the one in the kitchen was moved to the livingroom. The largest Aloe Vera which used to sit in the corner of the window was moved to a plantstand in the bedroom and the large corokia cotoneaster which used to be in the kitchen was moved here instead of the aloe vera. The red oxalis just got bigger and bigger…

The livingroom window, 2017-09-19. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

When autumn approached plants started to move indoors. I also managed to sell my large red oxalis. One plant less. The two figtrees moved inside and so did the Australian wild pelargonia and the muehlenbeckia. The Australian wild pelargonia didn’t like to come indoors though and more or less died just a week later. So, it went into the trash. The Devil’s Ivy went into the bedroom to make space for the muehlenbeckia on the ceramic plantstand. The plant-light was put into one of the fig-tree pots and helps them survive the darker season indoors.

The livingroom window 2017-10-09. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

When the Australian pelargonia went into the trash I moved one of the white pelargonias to that spot. That was only temporary though until Ulla came to visit and brought it home to her flat.

I then moved the smaller fig-tree up onto the side-board, but it got a bit crowded there.

The livingroom window, 2017.10-16. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I didn’t like this (above) at all. Too crowded. So re-arranged again by removing the stephanotis and moving the medium-sized aloe vera closer to the window. Also the muehlenbeckia got closer to the window. The removed stephanotis presently rests on a stool in the kitchen. That’s a temporary place for it. I really don’t know where to put it at the moment. So, below is how the livingroom window presently looks. That’s OK so far. Airy enough.

The livingroom window, 2017-10-23. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

As the chaise longue is up for sale presently, and some people are coming to check it out on Friday, I might change the look here again. If I get rid of the chaise longue I can re-think this corner and make it less crowded.

Oct

2017

Between the rains…

Entrance from the garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Between the rains I check the garden for the latest developments. Autumn is here and it is a busy time. The garden has to be closed down and the patio emptied of pots and other stuff.

The patio preparing for winter. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The color are changing out there and there is not much left to take care of.

The patio preparing for winter. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

It starts to look empty on the patio. I haven’t covered anything up yet, and the carpets are still there, soaking wet after the rains lately. Pots on wall and floor and other spots are either gone for waste or indoors. Other stuff is slowly moved from here to the storage on the other side of the house.

Rain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

So, any work out there has to be done between the rains. We had 33 mm of rain the last couple of days. Emptied the rain-gauge yesterday and it has rained another 5 mm since.

Sweetpeas on the patio. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The sweetpeas on the patio are still in bloom and sprouting new flowerbuds. It was NOT a good ide to plant them together with the cobea in the same pot. It just looks messy. I will never do that again. On another note, I will never again grow sweet peas. They have a nice smell and the flowers are interesting if looking really close on them, but… too much work to get them from pea to flower and in the end, how they grow just looks messy.

Cobea in bloom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The cobea, which the sweet peas share a large pot with, is in bloom and has lots of flower buds still not opened. It is a pity that it blooms so late in the year. But this year, at least it blooms. Other years it didn’t even get that far. It is an annual plant so new plant has to be planted every year if you want it. You cannot plant it until end of Mya, beginning of June as it is very sensitive to frost nights. Planting it that late is one of the causes for it blooming so late. It grows a lot in one season though. It has never been this big previous years. This year it has thrown itself over the plank and down on the other side and onto the wall there as well.

Cobea mixed with climbing hortensia. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The leaves of the climbing hortensia at the backside of the tall plank on the patio are getting more yellow for each day and will soon fall off. The dark green leaves mixed with them is the cobea form the patio.

Cobea on the wall.. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The cobea is also climbing on the wall and is presently at the top of my bedroom window. Look closely for the flower buds all along its loop.

Cobea flowers 2017-10-09. Photo ©nini.tjader.2017

The cobea flowers on the backside of the patio-plank are pale… There has been a shortage of light and sunshine the last week so they havenät yet developed their darkblue color. They look very strange this pale…

Cobea flower. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Fascinating flower…

Honeysuckle on the bow. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The honeysuckles (two old ones) have grown a lot this year and are climbing the bow as they should. The sundriven lamp there I will take down soon. No point of having it there when there is no sun as it doesn’t charge then and doesn’t have enough power to light up when it gets dark. The smaller sunöcharged lamps in the garden I took into storage last week as they too had stopped lighting up.

Honeysuckle 2017-10-09. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The old orange honeysuckle has a new flower… in October…

Echinacea. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The echinacea at the outside of the patio is looking really tired after the rains and are more or less finished for the season. There happened to be a couple of minutes of sunshgine yesterday when I shot these pictures, but it was just a couple of minutes… Rains resumed later in the day.

Echinacea. Finished for the season. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The echinacea flower is interesting even when wilted. Before the top of it dries (how can it dry in these rains?) it is really hard. When mature and dry and ready to spread its seeds it all falls apart.

Anemone hupehensis. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

The double anemone hupehensis (höstanemon in Swedish) in the same flower bed is still opening flowers. It is always late in the season and this year it is taller and generally larger than ever before. I hope it continues like that also next year.

Hosta. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Also the hostas are changing colors in the autumn. Big as they are they will wilt down totally and disappear. And (hopefully) come back next year. They always start over from scratch.

Virginia Creeper. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The Virginia Creeper is also changing colors and the leaves are starting to fall off. Iäve had it for at least 3-4 years by now but it started to really grow just this year. I am confident that it will continue like this also next year.

Orpine. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The orpine at the flowerbed by the entrance to the patio is at its most beautiful state just now and has opened theri flowers. A bit late this year actually… The bumblebees and bees and all theri relatives are missing out on the flowers. Most of them have retired by now.

Amelanchier alnifolia Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The Amelanchier alnifolia, which we planted in replacement of the mirabelle tree which was cut down in October 2015, has come along just fine. The birdfeeder has new food waiting for the birds. Some of the birds are back, but not many yet as it hasn’t been all that cold yet. Wet, but not cold. I have taken away a lot of the messy plants in the flowerbed on this side of the bush. What is left will be left over winter and then we will see what comes up next year.

Flowerbed along the plank. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The flowers in the flowerbeds along the plank are still in bloom.

Flowerbed. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The dark plant in this flowerbed (which I’ve forgotten the name of) will probably have to be reduced and partly moved elsewhere or it will kill the astilbes.

Flowerbed. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The above flowerbed was created this summer. The plants there, three alumroots/heuchera and some other plants, are coming along just fine. We moved them all from another flowerbed.

There is a lot wilting down in the garden presently. But two large pots I’ve kept in the garden, the red basil for the bumblebees that are still awake, and the giant verbena which both still have lots of lilac flowers. Not all is dead yet, but soon will be.

Part of the garden 2017-10-09. Photo: ©ninil.tjader.2017

Sep

2017

My Ginkgo Biloba is alive again

Ginkgo Biloba 2016-08-14. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The Ginkgo Biloba is an interesting plant. Above is how my Ginkgo Biloba looked in august 2016. Fresh green leaves. I bought it in spring 2016 at a garden fair. It lived indoors until the summer of 2017.

Ginkgo Biloba 2016-01-28. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Then winter struck. Leaves got yellow and fell off. By the end of January 2017 it looked like in the above picture. Then ALL the leaves fell off. Was it dead? I had no idea.

Ginkgo Biloba 2017-06-10. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

From the end of January until June 10th 2017, the ginkgo Biloba looked dead. No leaves. Not a hint of green. I really thought it was dead, but decided I’d wait and see if anything would happen with it. Until June 10th, now residing outdoors for the summer, the first hints of green finally appeared.

By the 1st of July my Ginkgo Biloba started to look promising. The leaves were coming out and developing as they should.

By the beginning of August green was showing in several places on the plant. Not developing fast, but…

By the middle of August it started to look good. Green leaves everywhere.

And now it looks like a proper Ginkgo Biloba plant again. Not lika year ago, but almost. Its color is lighter than last year , but at least it now has leaves everywhere and a second stem has appeared from its foot.

My Ginkgo Biloba has now moved indoors as autumn is more or less here. Not that cold yet, but…

Lesson learned: not to give up hope when it comes to the Ginkgo Biloba. It might look all dead and leafless, but it isn’t. It will lose it leaves again, and I hope it will again survive the winter and come again next year.

March 17th 2020
By the end of last summer (2019) I planted my Ginkgo Biloba in one of the flowerbeds outside. Thought it was old enough then to move outdoors. Remains to see if it survived this snowless and green winter or not. It is still too early to see. Will report.

June 10th 2020
Unfortunately my Ginkgo Biloba didn’t survive the winter in the flowerbed. It is now dead and burried… Just dug it up for further transport to the waste.

Sep

2017

Season of the sunflowers

It is the season of the sunflowers. A bright yellow replacement sun as I see it, now that the season is turning to darker and shorter days.

It is a fascinating flower.

Above is the largest sunflower and the first for this season, after a heavy rain, just opening up. Out crawls a wet bee and some bugs. The sunflower just opened about half of its petals to begin with. The others opened up later.

One of the smaller sunflowers in one of the flowerbeds broke in the rain so I brought it indoors and put in a glass.

I put into one of my grandmothers old snaps-glasses. It actually opened up after a couple of days.

All my sunflowers are planted by the birds. The seeds come from the bird-feed and originate either from peeled sunflower seeds or black sunflower seed.

Watch the middle of the sunflower. The pattern of the small flowers that will become the seed eventually. How it swirls… intriguing.

As time passes, the middle of the sunflower shrinks and its pattern gets smaller and smaller.

So, who is pollinating the sunflower? Lots of tiny bugs and flies, and also bumblebees and bees.

Sunflowers can become really tall. My largest is about one meter and 10 centimeter in height, which is not very tall. It grows just beside where the bird-feed is (empty presently), in what I call the wild flowerbed.

The decline has begun. Almost nothing of the middle of the sunflower is now left and it has begun to look very tired.

It is still beautiful in its decline.

A smaller sunflower by the fence is also blooming.

The largest sunflowers is now nodding and has lost most of its petals after the latest heavy rain. Above is how it looked yesterday.The middle of the flowers is now filled. Will all this become sunflower-seeds?

The sunflower by the fence was visited by a bumblebee when I was out taking pictures.

And just beside that one, another one is soon opening up.

I love sunflowers.

Aug

2017

The Green Curtain

I’ve written about this before, I know. That is, how I stopped using curtains in the kitchen and opted for a green curtain of plants instead. This green curtain has changed over time though so I thought I’d show some recent pictures of how my windows presently look in the kitchen. They will soon change again when some of the plants that are outside on the patio move indoors when the season changes to autumn. It is still summer-like outside, but we have already had some really cold nights. So, soon enough, plants will be moving indoors.

The name of the plant above is rhipsalis, a cactus-relative. More about it here.

The good about it is that it sifts the light through it and does’t make the kitchen dark. It hangs on the curtain rod above the south-facing window in the kitchen together with another green plant.

I don’t think the green one to the right (with white stripes on the leaves) is a tradescantia, even though it is somewhat similar to them. Its “flowers” look more like the ones on pepperomia plants. I have no idea which one it is though. The pepperomia family is large.

Above the two windows in the kitchen a large, and by now quite old, philodendron hangs on the curtain rods and follows the upper part of the window along the ceiling. I have had that one for years already in my previous flat. I know I cut it down a couple of times in my previous flat when I thought it got too tall (long). It had a period this spring and summer getting yellow leaves which fell off, but we are now past that period. It grows new stems again. And new leaves. I probably ought to fill in some fresh soil into the pot it grows in. Otherwise it doesn’t ask for much maintenance. As long as it gets watered it is happy.

I have no idea where to lead it when it reaches the end of the second, west-facing, window. It will soon do that……

In the corner between the two windows I have a plantstand (from IKEA) which presently houses one of my two stephanotis floribunda (doftranka in Swedish). I got them from a neighbour that moved north in June 2015. This one is soon up to the ceiling as well. It has grown a lot since I replanted it in a new, larger pot, with fresh soil this summer. The other one stands in the livingroom.

Above it hangs a “wandering jew”, a tradescantia. I have re-started that one several times since I got it as it periodically gets a bit ugly and looses all its leaves at the end that grows in the soil and only keeps the ones on its tops. I then cut the tops off and put them in new soil and -re-start it. Works really well.

To the right of the tradescantia hangs two of Ikeas hanging planters, one attached to the other, with in total six (6) spider plants.

They presently bloom and have lots of spider plant “babies” hanging down from them.

These “babies” are actually ready to plant, but neither I, nor my neighbour, nor other friends, need any more of them.

Its flowers are small and white. Rather nice actually. I’ll keep the “babies” and its flower hanging there for a while yet, as long as they look fresh, but in the end, I will probably cut them all off. There will be more of them again.

My white orchid is blooming again. On a stem that dried out to half its length and then suddenly shot out a new stem. It is not that long ago since its previous blooming. On the windowsill behind it you can see a cutting from the philodendron. I took that off some time in the spring for someone who wanted a cutting. But it turned out to be too complicated to deliver it, so it still stands there on my window-sill. It took for ever for it to get roots, but now it has and its growing.

What I have on the window-sills presently isn’t all that interesting and it will change soon when I bring in some of the plants from outside. I have my six (6) orchids – which I presently test growing in water only – there and some other smaller plants.

Who needs curtains when you have plants? I have blinds though in case I want to hide from the world outside. I almost never use them.

Aug

2017

Summer flowers

There are plenty of summer flowers in our garden. They come and go over the summer season. Some come in early spring, early summer, or in the middle of the summer or, like now towards the late summer. In most cases I let them run wild and grow where they like to grow. Except for those planted in the flower beds, but those are not covered here. Some are planted from seeds over the years. Others the birds have brought, like the smaller red and orange poppies and the digitalis. Yet others have spread by themselves over time.

I love the summer flowers. They bring color to the garden. I have plenty of different flowers and I think they now follow each other in time for blooming in a good way. It has taken a couple of years to get to that. The bumble-bees and the bees love our garden and there is no shortage of either.

This has been a rather odd summer as it has been extremely dry. In many parts of Sweden watering the garden has been forbidden for that reason. Not in my area though we have been asked to use watering in the garden sparingly. That is clearly seen on the lawns which are more brown than green. Watering the lawns has not been prio number one. Watering the flowers and shrubs and so has been more important. The dry conditions have also caused some of the flowers to bloom earlier than usual, and some later than usual. Some have become taller than usual and others smaller than usual. All have had shorter blooming seasons than previous years.