greenery

Nov

2018

Winter is coming

Winter is coming. Frozen birdbath. Photo: ©nini-tjader.2018

Wintergarden

Winter is coming, There is no denying it. It IS coming. We have already had a couple of frostnights. We have seen the very first few snowflakes the other day. They werenät many and immediately disappeared, but they were there…

The garden through the kitchen-window, 2018-10-29. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

It has also been rainy, dark, windy… No fun at all. The darkness is the worse. Having to turn on the light indoors already in the morning and for the rest of the day is… well, depressing.

Move of plantbox

The old plantbox. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

I have moved the content of the old box in the backgarden to a new, smaller box along the fence. I didn’t want to have it here, just in the wind from the radon fan, any longer. Especially since a second tub to draw out the radon from the ground was installed there on October 31st so even more of the radon would get blown onto that area before dissolving into the air. The blueberry-bushes beside it will stay though.

New plantbox

Plants waiting for new plantbox

Old plantbox getting emptied

Where the old plantbox was

The old plantbox

Where the old box was, I have sown grass. The parsley has been harvested and is now in the freezer. I didn’t harvest the chives, but I hope it will come up again next year. The old plantbox was all rotten, which I didn’t see until I wanted to move it. So a new box was necessary. The new box turned out to be smaller than the old one so the lemon balm had to be planted outside of the box. I also had to put a smallish “fence” around the plants in the new box so the cats would go there. Alice the cat tried to before I put the small “fence” there…

Withering plants

But winter is coming and the plants are withering. November, as it is now, is a month when the garden is at its ugliest.

Autumn garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

But there is still some life here and there. As long as it is, there are colors.

Frozen orpine. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

There has been frost some nights. The frost changes the plants. Now it is relatively warm again and no frost.

The backgarden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Autumn colors are beautiful, but…

Hosta/funkia, 2018-10-06. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Since I shot the above picture, the funkia/hosta has all withered down and is totally gone. See you in the spring next year.

Lavender and aronia. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The lavender was in bloom for its second time late in the autumn and after I replanted this one just behind the aronia. The aronia gets bright red leaves (gone now) and black berries that neither I nor the birds like… But they are decorative…

Helenium Moreheim Beauty. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The helenium Moreheim Beauty lasted longer into the autumn this year than earlier years. It still has a flower here and there… but most is gone now. The above birdbath has now been taken indoors as I don’t think the ceramics would manage the winter-cold and temperatures below zero.

Mint and peppermint. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Something that never give up is the mint and the peppermint in the backgarden. Blooming again, And growing. I have harvested and dried a lot of it, but since it has grown again. I will not harvest more now befor winter is coming.

Behind the patio. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

On the backside of the patio-fence I have a climbing hortensia growing. In the spring when we were supposed to re-oil the planks with black-pigmented oil, I didn’t do the backside as the eaves and flowers of the climbing hortensia had just come out then. I waited for the leaves to fall off in the autumn. When they did and the weather was unusually watm, I finally oiled also the backside of the plank. Went all well.

Plants moved indoors

Plants moved indoors. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

With the winter coming, plants have moved indoors to avoid the frost and the coming snow. It is MUCH too crowded. After a few weeks indoors by now, some of the plants are already thrown out as they didn’t like the indoor life.

Red basil

Pelargonia bontrosai

Plectranthus scutellarioides

Pelargonia Attar of roses

The two pelargonia bontrosai now live in the kitchen-windows as does the red basil (which re-started itself and started to bloom again in October and get new leaves). The pelargonia Attar of Roses lives in the bedroom and is HUGE. Have given away parts of it to some ladies in my gym-group. The Plectranthus scutellarioides got so tired and messy so it ended up in the waste and is no more.

livingroomwindow, livingroom, plants, indoorplants

Livingroomwindow. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Bedroomwindow, Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The pelargonias have finally stopped blooming. The leaves on the figtrees in the livingroom are falling off.

I keep throwing out plants that look just too awful after some time indoors. More will be thrown out. As for the pelargonias I take cuttings of them before they get thrown into the waste. I normally do not take cuttings in the autumn, but this year I do. They take up far too much space and look just too awful… Cannot stand looking at them all the winter.

Winter IS coming.

Sep

2018

Autumn equinox has passed

Parthenocissus in autumn colors. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Autumn equinox has passed and it is getting darker and darker and darker… and colder and wetter too.

Plants and trees are starting to get their autumn colors. Beautiful, but I prefer summer…

Sunflower. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The one and only sunflower that I kept is in full bloom. It is an odd kind with several flowers on the same stem. The birds planted it.

Autumnflowers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The flowers in the flowerbeds are starting to look a bit tired. Some bloom their best in the autumn, and others are on their last legs and almost dead. The red pelargonias along the fence of the patio are still alive, but they do look tired.

Echinacea. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The echinacea is almost done for the season. This (above) is how they looked on September 24th, 2018. The seed-balls are hard, thorny ones until they are ready to let loose their seeds.

Vicious fly. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Some vicious flies that bite have appeared like the one above (called “broms” in Swedish, unable to find the english name for it). There haven’t been much flies this warm and sunny summer but they have come now. Some days the air is full of the small ones, and in the afternoon the regular house-flies often sneak in if the door is open. As weather is getting colder, door isn’t open as much as it has been though.

Rudbeckia fulgida. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The rudbeckia fulgida (above) has been in bloom for several weeks already. It is an autumnflower, but it started to bloom early this year. Fortunately it still blooms now after several weeks.

Japanese anemone. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The double japanese anemone is taller than ever and have a lot more flowers than previous years. I had a regular one here as well, with simple flowers, but it has disappeared. My neighbours regular japanese anemone is still alive and in bloom though (below) in our joint flowerbed by the parking.

Japanese anemone. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Orpine. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The orpines (kärleksört in Swedish) is larger, redder and wider than ever. It has really loved the warm and sunny summer it seems. Soom years the flowers have almost not had time to bloom before the real autumn weather started. But this year …

The newest flowerbed. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The newest orpine, which we moved from flowerbed one to the newly redone one, is alos in full bloom. And also large. That’s why we moved it to here (above) as it was a bit crowded in its original location.

Rhubarb in flowerbed two. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The rhubarb, which didn’t like its location in the box, has finally been moved to flowerbed two. What was there is now in the redone flowerbed. We hope the rhubarb will like it better her. Not as much sun as in the previous location. Maybe better to be directly in the earth. We will see in spring how it works out. It has company of 2 tulipbulbs and one allium in this flowerbed. No point in putting anything else in here as long as we don’t know how the rhubarb will grow. Or not.

Oregano. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

In the box where the rhubarb used to live, there are now six plants of oregano. Five of them have lived in pots on my patio, and one in the other box. I have harvested these plants and am drying the oregano indoors now. The plants are in the box just over the winter and we will see how many of them survived. If they do, I will move them to elsewhere.

Giant verbena with bumblebee. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

I have one giant verbena which planted itself from last years verbenas. The bumblebees love it. This one hung there for a couple of hours before moving on. There are still some bumblebees around, but most of them have disappeared by now. Normally we have a lot of bumblebees around as we have the kind of flowers that they love.

Japanese forget-me-not. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

A new acquaintance in the garden is the Japanese forget-me-not. Sown by the birds. Asked in one of my FaceBook groups what it was and got the name Japanese forget-me-not. Very nice flower. Got two plants of them. Letting them bloom and spread as they want in the hope that they will reappear next year.

The garden, 24th September, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The grass is green again after having been yellowish-brown the entire summer. As soon as the rains started again after a brake of several months, the grass came to life again. But now autumn is here and the garden is loosing its colors. The grapes are harvested (and eaten). We presently have one poppy there in the picture above.

Poppy, September 24th, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

This is probably the last of the big poppies for this season. A bit late in the season for insects to find it so there can be seeds.

Mushrooms in the grass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Talking about the grass… After the last heavy rain, suddenly the grass was full of these tiny mushrooms. They grow in the grass in a quite large area approximately where the roots of the former mirabelle tree once were. Yesterday I ran them over with the mover, but some still remain.

The larkspur is blooming for the second time. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The larkspur suddenly re-started and is blooming for the second time this year.

Helenium Moerheim Beauty. Photo: ©nini.tjader.20118

The Helenium Moerheim Beauty has been in bloom the entire summer and restarted with new flowers a couple of times. I let the seeds fall off it in the hope that it should spread. So far it has only spread at the foot of the original plant and not from the seeds. I’ve had it for some years by now. I love these flowers. And so do the bumble-bees.

Honeysuckle. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The two old honeysuckles (which started their life on the balcony of my previous flat) have got autumn-colors. At the same time they both also have flowers for the second time this year. That is not unusual. They usually bloom twice a year. I had a third honeysuckle, a yellow one, by the patio, but that one died in early summer after having had troubles for along time. So I cut it down. When all the leaves and plants are gone for the season I will look for it. It used to grow there behind the orpines… (picture below).

Greenery at the entrance from the garden, September 24th, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Due to some strong winds and stormy weather lately I’ve just started to move the pelargonias and the figtrees indoors. How much of them I will keep I’ve not decided yet. It is time now to move them indoors. Nights have become colder. It was close to zero centigrades the night before yesterday.

Autumn equinox has passed (on Sunday last). Autumn is here. Soon there will be no greenery outside. The light is disappearing and the season is getting darker and darker. I much prefer summertime… I already long for next summer…

Plants. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

May

2018

Springtime, summer, garden

Springtime, summer, garden. The garden in the evening 2018-05-08 at 20:05. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Springtime, summer, garden

Suddenly spring arrived. Fast. And then a weather that is more like high summer than spring. The light returned and so did warmth and sunshine. The garden explodes before your eyes and you can almost see how everything grows.

Alice and Gustav in the garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

We all, including the cats Alice and Gustav, enjoy the really early summer-weather out in the garden.

The garden May 9th 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Everything is growing.
Everything is in bloom.
Everything needs attention,
Who wants to be indoors in front of the computer writing blog-posts?

The garden in springtime. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

I’ve got myself a new sun-chair. Grey this time. The red one I’ve had for years I threw out in the autumn as it had done its time and was falling apart. This is the same model as the old one, just another color. Very comfortable. Have already used it a lot.

GardenMay 9th, 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

I’ve got a new bow for the Engelmanns wine. Will look nice when the wine leaves come out. They are starting to, but you cannot really see it in thepicture from May 9th. What you CAN see though is that the plank around my outside place is no longer natural color, but black. The whole community now are getting black pigmented oil for the planks. Slowly we are all oiling them and they get black. I actually like it. Except that you see all the dust and all the seeds from plants on it and constantly have an urge to clean the plank… But the greenery comes out nicely against the black plank. Since I shot these pictures, both the balconies on the second floor have been oiled and are also black.

gustav, alice, cats, springtime, summer, garden

Gustav and Alice in the garden, Yin and Yang. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The grass is getting greener every day… but, at places already getting brown as there has been no rain and really very warm weather.The hoze is out every evening for watering the plants and bushes, but I donät water the grass.

Colorful flowerbed, May 10th 2018. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

If I didn’t take photos all the time I would miss out on all the flowering and colorful flowerbeds and what is happening there. Flowers come and go and disappear really fast. The above flowerbed, shot at May 10th, looks nothing like this today…

appleblossoms, springtime, summer, garden

Appleblossoms. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The whole neighbourhood is perfumed by the scents of the flowering trees all around. Lovely.

dandelions. maskrosor, springtime, summer, garden

Dandelions. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

It is also dandelion-season… as springtime and early summer always is. I hunt them in the grass wherever I see them and dig them u p. I don’t want them to spread.

Red currants flowers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The red currants on the commons are coming along fine, as are the black currants in our garden.

neighbourcat, cat, springtime, summer, garden

The striped neighbour cat. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

The striped neighbour cat from the other side of the house visits regularly. He also drinks from the birdbath… They all do.

birdfeeding, fence, springtime, summer, garden

By the birdfeeding. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

We have fenced in the flowerbed by the birdfeeding as the three cats liked to hide in or on the flowers, flattening them to the ground, when they waited for the birds to come… Intention of course to catch birds… Have put in lots of flowerseeds at the edge of this flowerbed. Waiting for them to come up. At least now the cats cannot lay on the flowers…

Springtime and summertime at the same time. This year the month of May is delivering and everything is getting green and flowering. It is a beautiful and lovely season.

Springtime in the garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

And Gustav is back sleeping in his high grass.

gustav, cat, grass, springtime, summer, garden

Gustav sleeping in the grass. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Aug

2017

All about the garden and greenery

Garden and greenery. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

It is all about the garden and greenery this time of the year. The garden is where I spend as much time as possible. I need the light, the sun and the fresh air. I can be inside when it gets cold and dark again. Now is for the outdoor life.

Dry. Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

It has been an unusually dry summer though and the greenery is suffering. What is supposed to be green isn’t really.

A corner of the garden. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

Our small piece of lawn is far from green. The grass is so dry you can hear it brake when you walk on it. I don’t water the lawn. That is a waste of water when there is a water shortage as it is this year. In many parts of Sweden it is totally forbidden to water the garden. Not here though, but saving the water is a recommendation. I do water the shrubs and the flowers and such. I don’t want them to die.

To the backgarden 2017-07-02. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

In parts of the garden you get the illusion though that it is all green and lush. It is just that, an illusion.

A part of the garden 2017-07-14. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

This is the view of the garden from my south-facing window. The high plants in what I call the wild flowerbed are green. But this dry weather is affecting even those plants. They are taller than ever and their flowering-time is shorter than ever. The flowers are done flowering in a very much shorter time than they use to. But there are flowers because I water this area.

A corner of the garden, 2017-07-08. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Above is the view out over the garden on July 8th. The flowers in this flowerbed were all pink at that time. They are finished now. The green bushes are black currants. We picked them shortly after I shot this picture. We actually had more black currants than ever before this year, and they were also larger. The neighbour and I got 1.5 liters of berries each. Probably because these bushes get watered regularly.

A corner of the garden greenery. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Just around the corner outside my kitchen windows it looked like this at the same time.

Overview of the garden 2017-07-07. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Above how it looks from the parking into the garden. Since we have finished the rhubarb (which was better this year than the last, but not really good). Considering the unusually dry summer, it is as green as it can be.

In the backgarden, behind my patio, the rose-bushes bloom as never before to the delight of the bumble-bees. We thought of digging them all up in favour of planting something more useful and edible, but maybe not… ? At least the bumble-bees love them and they are beautiful when they bloom.

Beach rose. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

These roses are terribly invasive and spread via its roots. That’s why they should be taken away and dug up – which is hard work and a lot of digging. Most of our garden (mine and my neighbour) were covered with these roses some years back. The entire corner between our flats actually. And all the way around and past and behind my patio too. We have done a lot of digging to get rid of them. What is in the backgarden is what remains. Every spring I cut them down to about 20 cm in height. This is how much they grow in one summer. And it has so far been a very dry summer. Without getting any extra water, they still survive… It adds greenery to the garden… but…

Beach roses in the backgarden, 2017-07-25. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Jul

2017

The “secret” garden 2017

The garden seen from the lawn by the parking. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Our “secret” garden

In June 2015 I wrote a post in my Swedish blog about the “secret” garden, as it was then. Now it is time for a follow-up about how it looks today.

I take a lot of pictures of the garden and what is growing there, both with the purpose of publishing on the this blog and my blog in Swedish, and for Instagram and FaceBook. I also do it for myself to keep track of what is growing there and how it develops over time. It is fun to compare over the years and to see what works and what not.

The garden seen from the parking outside. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I call it the “secret” garden as it is a bit hidden away behind the noice-reducing fence. Also, you don’t see it until you go to the end of the parking outside it and look in around the corner. So not many are aware of this garden, hence the “secret” garden.

The garden 2017-07-02. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The garden is a co-work with my neighbour as we share the corner between our flats. We both live on the ground-floor. My patio and my kitchen-windows are straight ahead. The window to the right are of my neighbours bedroom. The housing cooperative doesn’t do any work in our garden-area. We take care of it ourselves. Except the lawn-area beside the parking.

The garden seen from the parking. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The black bucket with the peas, salad and parsley in the picture above has been moved from there since I shot the picture. Instead a spirea bush has been moved to that spot.

The way into the backgarden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Personally I also have access to the backgarden behind my patio and the noice-reducing fence, an area that it is impossible to reach without passing my patio.

The backgarden, the “end” of the garden. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The neighbours on that side can only reach this area outside their windows if they climb out through their windows. The end of the backgarden is filled with thorny rosebushes. We have planned for a long time to remove them and plant something better there… I removed that maple-tree in the picture below just yesterday. But it will probably reappear… It always does.

The end of the garden, 2017-07-03. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The fence was really stupidly built. We hade big problems a couple of years back when the walls of the house were re-painted. The painters had to carry one item at the time to that part of the house. I objected at the stupidity to build the fence like that already before it was built, but … decisions were already made and they were unwilling to re-think. They might have to re-think one day as it is impossible to get around the house as it is.

The garden corner in 2015. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Much has happened in the garden since our mirabelle-tree was taken down, soon two years ago in October. This is the second summer without the tree. It changed the garden. In hindsight the removal of the tree was to the good even though we then were upset about losing our tree (and its fruit). We’ve got another kind of greenery in the garden without the tree competing for water and light and it has become much lighter as well.

This is how the garden looks today. Click on an image to see a larger version, re-load the page to make the gallery resort images in another order. Hover over an image to see an explanation.

The box

Flowerbed beside my patio

Malva

Lavender

The flowerbed beside my patio

Flowers by the birdbath

Flowerbed by the parking

Astrantia major

The passage from the backgarden to the frontgarden

Pansies

By the birdbath

Pelargonias and pots on the railing

Rhubarb

Outside my kitchen window

Pelargonias and yellow honeysuckle

Entrance to my patio

Mint

Lambsear with bumble bee

Bluebells

Honeysuckle on the bow

Flowerbed nbr 1

White allium

The corner between me andmy neighbour

Pelargonias and flowerbed beside my patio

Wild oxalis

Bushes outside one of my kitchenwindows

Hollyhocks

Aquileia by the birdbath

Flowerbed by the bird-feeder

Honeysuckle

Blueberries

Mini carnations

Pink poppies

Pelargonias and thyme

The rose

Honeysuckle

Hosta

Black currants

Flowerbed nbr 3

Climbing hydrangea

Flowerbed nbr 2

Bushes in the corner

Helenium Moerheim Beauty

Lilac and lambsears

Jul

2017

Hail and thunder

Hail ongoing. Video filmed with my iPhone 7 from the door to the patio.

Yesterday at around 15:00 hrs there was mighty thunder – I actually jumped as it was so sudden – and then the skies opened. At first with rain, then came the hail, combined with rain……

Hail isn’t all that uncommon here at this time of the year but it was long since last time. It is fascinating. At the same time I worried for the greenery and flowers. There was a lot of hail.

The worst affected were the daylilies. There the leaves nearest to the house were broken. I didn’t remember that heavy rains and hail come down just on top of the daylilies from the roof. Now I was reminded. The hail remained on the ground around it for a couple of hours. Fortunately the hail didn’t take the budding flowers of the daylilies on their way up, only its leaves. Had they been up they would have been damaged. The greenery looked a bit sad for a while, but most of it was unharmed when I checked and shot the pictures.

Daylilies after the hail. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I wonder how the summer-flowers and summer-plants were affected by the cold hail as it stayed for quite some time after it had stopped coming down. I was especially worried about the tomatoes, salads and herbs. They looked OK when I checked after the hail had stopped, and I hope they will continue to be OK. Outside temperature sank quite a bit with the hail.

Later in the evening it rained. The rain was OK and needed. This is a very dry season this year.

Here are some more pictures. Hover over an image to see text. Click on a picture to see a larger version. Reload page to make the images sort in a different order.

From indoors.

The drainage couldn’t cope with the hail that came down from the roof.

Hail on the salad and parsley.

Hail on the grass.

Hail on chair on the patio.

Hail on the way to the backgarden.

Sweet peas with hail.

Daililies with hail.

Basil with hail.

Hail on the grass.

Apr

2017

New Beginnings

New beginnings with new stems and leaves on my figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

“New Beginnings” is this months theme for the Urban Jungle Bloggers . Just the right theme for this time of the year when talking about the plantworld.

Part of my figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

At the end of March I decided I had to cut my figtree. Something I have never done before and have no experience with. I decided to cut at least one of the stems that grew straight out and made the plant larger than I wanted it to be. So I cut off that branch and dived it into two pieces after consulting the internet and some plantgroups on FaceBook.

One part of the cut off branch had no leaves and was put directly into soil in a pot with a plastic bag around it. I kept notice of what was up and down of that bit of stem before planting it. It just took a couple of weeks until it produced a small green thing on the stem. I hope that will be a new beginning for that piece of figtree…

Figtree cutting. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The top part of the cutting I put in a decorative vase with water. All leaves except one soon fell off, but on the cut branch in the water small white growth appeared pretty fast.

Part of my figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I hope those small, white things that appear on the cutting in the water are new roots?

With a bit of luck I will get two brand new figtrees after cutting off that branch.

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

The new branches and leaves are growing just fine (and fast) on the tree itself.

My figtree is, against all rules, kept indoors over winter, in regular house warmth. I give it extra light by a special plant-lamp. It loses some leaves over winter, but not all. When the branch got cut, it immediately produced two figs… If it is anything like the last time it did that, it will take a couple of months to get ripe and will be almost inedible.

Figs on my figtree. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Also one of my old cactuses is showing new beginnings. (Reload page to get images to sort in another order, click an image to see a larger version).

Apart form those two new beginnings I am again, against better knowledge, sowing all kinds of seeds. I am usually not very successful in that, but I keep on trying. Those are for outdoor plants though and will be covered in another post later on. Those are tomatoes and some flowers.

White geranium, cut down. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

I cut down my white geranium to get more plants and to give the old one a new beginning. This is the only one I kept indoors over winter as I simply didn’t have space to keep more of them. This kind answers well to get cut down and made more plants from and did so this year as well.

geraniums, pelargonia, whitegeranium, new beginnings

New beginnings of the white geraniums. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

One of the small cuttings died since I shot this picture, but I will get at least three new white geraniums. These new beginnings will all get their own larger pots when they get big enough and I am sure that they will survive. They live outdoors on the patio over the summer.

geranium, fragranced geranium, new beginnings

Fragranced geranium. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The above is a fragranced geranium that also is a cutting from last years geraniums. It was two from the beginning, one died. This second one is growing though. The cutting started off in a glass of water where it got lots of roots. Only some time in January did I move them and put them into soil. Then its twin died, but this one survived. It needs more light to grow better. This spring has been poor of light and warmth, but hopefully that changes soon.

Ginkgo Biloba Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

If the Ginkgo Biloba will get any new beginnings is doubtful though… Since I shot this picture two more leaves have fallen off and it is down to one rather withered leaf. I cannot yet see if the plant is dead or alive.

My oldest and largest aloe vera is very much alive though with lots of babies. Need to remove those, but waiting for warmer weather so I can take it outdoors. It is hard to handle it indoors as it is so big and heavy.

Aloe Vera with babies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

(And then there are the tomatoes…)

New beginnings. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Aug

2016

The story of my figtree

A leaf of my figtree, February 2016 Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

The story of my figtree is the following: I bought it last year, late spring. It lived outside on the patio the entire summer of 2015 until it got too cold for it to be outside. It then moved indoors and lived in my livingroom window over winter, with the help of artificial light for plants, but normal temperatures for indoors (approximately +23°C). The window is turned to the west and has afternoon sun.

The figtree got four (4) figs while indoors. Three you could eat, one was no good, the others were… so,so. It didn’t loose a single leaf over winter though I was prepared that it might.

My figtree, indoors, March 19th, 2016 Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

By the beginning of May it was time to move the figtree outside again as the outside temperatures became comfortable for both plants and humans. The figtree is supposed to manage even if temperature drops slightly below zero centigrades.

Figtree outside on May 6th, 2016 Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

It again got figs. Two this time. Lost a few leaves, but not many.

Figtreeleaf on May 10th 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

What it didn’t like though was the strong sun. Some leaves got sunburnt and later fell off. I should have known to protect it better from the sun…

Figtree on July 19th 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

By the middle of July I thought it looked poorly and partly naked. Remaining leaves were a bit discolored and it didn’t want to grow at all. Some of its roots were crawling on top of the earth in the pot.

Figtree on July 26th, 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

So the figtree got a larger pot and new soil and some nourishing watering. That made it come alive and finally start to grow again. It also probably helped that the weather was fine and extraordinarily sunny and warm.

New figtree leaves July 26th 2016. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2016

New leaves finally started to appear and grow fast.

Figtree on July 27th 2016. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

There were signs of life at other places on the tree as well.

On August 6th it looked like this. (Click on an image to see a larger version).

To my relief the positive development just continued. By August 14th it looked like this. (Click on an image to see a larger version).

The progress and growth is fast now. It also seems to like the recent rains. Below is how my figtree looked this morning. I am happy that it is now growing.

Question is: where do I put it when it has to move inside again? It is too big by now to be put in a window…

My figtree on August 19th 2016. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

Jul

2016

More garden and greenery

Entrance to the outside place. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2016

To continue the report from the current state of the garden and greenery, I’ll show you some other plants and spots.

In the flowerbed along my patio there are two white astilbes and one pink. I bought their bulbs on a garden fair years ago. They were supposed to be one white, one pink, one dark red… Well. When they came up there was no red one. Instead there were two white ones. They have grown fine over the years, even though there is nothing in spring and I always wonder if they will come up again or not.

After the astilbe, on the way to the backside garden, there are echinacea. White and pink. They are still on their way up and not blooming just yet.

They are coming fast now. I think they are a couple of weeks earlier this year than last.

hollyhock, alcearosea, stockros, garden, greenery

One of the hollyhocks on the corner of this flowerbed has just started to open its flowers. The bumble bees love them Yesterday I saw three bumblebees and one bee in one of the flowers at the same time. I save their seeds every year and spread them in the flowerbed. First year they don’t bloom, next year they do. Then they die.

I presently have two different hollyhocks. One is pinkish-yellow, the other one a strong cerise.

Along the noise-preventing fence, I’ve put lots of seeds from last years nasturtium in to the earth, where it accompanies one large hollyhock. I love the effect against the red fence.

Last year I had a very tall digitalis in the flowerbed outside the patio. I spread its seeds along the fence and in the flowerbed. I had forgotten that I did so and was very surprised when the above leaves started to appear here and there. With the help of a garden group on Facebook found out it was digitalis. So next year the flowers will appear. It was white and 1.80 meters high.

When you continue you come to the front garden. There are flowerbeds and there are bushes and it is a bit wild. I am not a big fan of very strict and orderly designed gardens. I prefer a bit of ad hoc plantations and love it to look natural.

I’ve got a few daylilies there, but only one flower on one of the plants. The daylily plants are bigger than ever this year, now that no tree is shading them any longer. I would have liked some more flowers though.

Two other wild flowers that keep on spreading are the small red (and orange) poppies and the aquilegia vulgaris. The latter is whitish-pinkish when it blooms. I thought it had wandered on into the black currant bushes (we have two here) and left that spot and the flowerbed behind it, but it appears I was wrong. The plants just came up there again and probably blooms only next year. The ones among the black currant bushes bloomed quite early in the summer.

In this area I also have a red yarrow. I probably put its eeds there a couple of years ago. I know I tried to grow them then and didn’t really succeed. Or that’s what I thought. They started to appear a couple of years later, just about everywhere, to my surprise. But this is the only red one at the moment.

Just outside the entrance to the patio I have a large, black container with giant verbena and a small white verbena at its feet. The container has holes in the bottom so water can pass through. I bought the giant verbena on the internet on a sale. The plants where almost white and very crocked when they arrive in the mail. They’ve had problems with mold on the leaves for a while, but I think they’re fine now Now they are dark green as they should and have grown a lot. The flowers just appeared, which the bumblebees and the butterflies love.

Above you see part of one of the black currant bushes, poppies, aquilegia and the bird-bath. There are also some wild flowers in front of them all.

Instead of the bluebells – which are finished for the season – there are now daisies in the black currant bushes. They are soon finished too. I remove both the bluewbells and the daisies every year when they have finished blooming, but they come back the next year, every year…

The above is part of the garden. To the left are the raspberry-bushes. Agreed, they are not good-looking, but we got a lot of raspberries this year. In the middle the really wild flowerbed with a the new bush behind it plus the food-station for the birds.

The grass is really not green this year. It is more yellow than green. It has been too dry and warm this summer for it to become green. Which also means less moving. The small “lawn” we created in the autumn 2010 by digging up lots of thorny rose-bushes – the kind that spread by their roots, beach roses – from this area and then put grass seeds into the earth. In the spring 2011 the “lawn” started to come up. No point in watering it. It will come back if it starts raining. We give water to the flowerbeds and the bushes though.

Just outside my kitchen windows, we have three bushes. Two of them, the one to the left and the spirea in the middle, I got for free by moving them to this location. They have settled well and are getting big now. The one to the left have large, white flower plumes. It wilts down to nothing during winter and the spot there is empty then. It start over in the spring and it is always a surprise how large it will get the next year.

The bush in the middle is a regular spirea that came from one of the flowerbeds around the corner of the house, where the housing-community exchanged the spireas for other bushes. The bush to the right is a pink, hanging lilac, which we bought the other year to exchange another bush that was removed when the walls of the house were painted. It hasn’t bloomed yet though… Next year?

Below another glimpse of the garden as it looks just now. It isn’t large, but there is a lot in it… Will show you the rest another time.

Jul

2016

Garden and greenery at its peak

The summer in the garden is green and inviting. It cannot get any greener than it is just now outside. The greenery is at its peak. There are still flowers that will bloom that hasn’t done so yet. But they are coming along just fine.

The weather has been good this summer. Mainly dry, sunny and warm. But of course there has been days with some rain and thunder too. Not many though. Feels like I’ve never before had to water the garden as much as this year. It is so dry.

The astrantia major (the pink flowers in the picture) are taller and more plenty than ever. The hortensia is green and coming but I doubt it will get any flowers this year. The chives unfortunately looks poorly this year. The oldest one has nearly died. The giant verbena in the black tub will get tall too after some problems with it in the beginning.

astratniamajor, garden, flowers, greenery

The astrantia major is much loved by both bumblebees and bees. They create a constant buzz there.

I have two hollyhocks. The one above is in the regular flowerbed around my patio. It is pink and yellow. This year it is also tall and healthy. No holes in the leaves so far. No bugs have eaten on it. Yet.

The one below is dark pink. It grows near to the anti-noise-fence, just as last year. I make sure every year to spread the seeds from them as they only live for two years. I love hollyhocks.

Above the view from the backgarden, behind the patio. At the most narrow point I’ve put a rose-bow for the two old honey-suckle plants that I cut down to almost nothing last autumn as they were sick. They’ve grown a lot this year and only just now started to flower. They’ve had lots of lice on them though, black lice. But after some thorough showering with water they now look more or less OK. I think the lice-season is over for this time.

The american blueberry-bushes that I moved last year to the back-garden are coming along fine and they have now plenty of blue-berries that just started to turn blue. Can soon be picked. Still not too many berries, but at least more than previous years. They never liked the previous location.

Lousy picture of the blueberries… but you get the idea…

A funny comparison. The veggiebox in the back-garden above in april this year. And just now in July below.

It has grown there… Lots of parsley and french tarragon and lemonbalm (though something has eaten a lot of its leafs). The chives here is fine and so is the sorrel in the frontmost corner. The sorrel and teh lemonbalm survived from last year. I had two oreganoplants between the parsley and the sorrel, but I had to move the oregano to a large pot of its own as it became too crowded in the box and I really want to get as much oregano as possible to last me until next year. I cut and dry it when large enough to be bundled.

The two kinds of thyme (regular and lemonthyme) and the mint are coming along fine in the back garden as well. The mint I also cut and dry to have in tea until next year. When it is fresh I use it in salads and drinks. The thyme I dry as well and use both dried and fresh in salads and other food.

Another fun comparison is the flowerbed along the outside of the patio. Below from 2011…

flowerbed, hostas, echinacea, garden, greenery

Notice the two hosta plants and the echinaceas. Notice size and spread.

The above is the same flowerbed in July 2016. Particularly the green hosta has grown a lot this year (now blooming). And the echinacea behind them have spread quite a lot. They were good last year but I think they will be even better this year.

This part of the flowerbed along and behind the patio comes late as it is less sun there. In the spring it is almost empty with only krokucuses. Then the rest come, slowly. Every year it looks like the hostas are cone for ever. Choice of plants has been difficult for it but I now have mix that works well there. Between the two hostas there is actually a japanese anemone. They are almosts hidden by the hostas this year.

I have two kinds of echinacea. One pink, one white. Neither is blooming just yet, but they are on their way. They get very tall and last long into the autumn.

In the backgarden, after my area ends, still grow these roses that spread like a pest via their roots. Plan it to dig them all up and use the area for something else. Our rhubarbs will move to their space. The flowers have a strong fragrance and the bumblebees love them, but… (click on this link to see a short movie with the working bumblebee).

Even though the echinacea flowers are not ready yet, the bugs are there… like this ladybug.

I’ll stop here. This was only the backgarden and part of the flowerbed along the patio. I’ll show you more of the garden another day.

In the foreground, two white astilbes, one pink astilbe and the pink-yellow hollyhock. In the background the back-garden and the rose-bow.

Jan

2015

Plants and coffee

This time of the year, with that lousy weather outside, still dark… I need some greenery to look at. If you cannot get it outside (you cannot here in Sweden), at least I can get it indoors in my kitchen. Above is what I see when at the kitchen table.

Another thing I need is a good cup of coffee now and then.

Saturday afternoon I started to make one. And the capsule machine got all crazy… It spitted out water, coffee and steam and made odd sounds. I quickly removed the cable to the electricity to make it stop its craziness. Then cleaned off all the spitted out coffee and water and dried the machine. Then I tested it with only water in, no coffee. Machine was dead. Short circuit. It was too late in the afternoon to go out to get a new machine. It had to wait until Sunday. On Saturday I had to take out my old coffee brewer and the old coffee I had stored… Result: disgusting taste, but I got my dose of caffeine….

On Sunday I went off to buy a new capsule machine. The old one was a Nescafe Dolce Gusto Geniosic (see above), 2 years and one month old. One month too old for the guarantee to still be valid. Bought one of the model MiniMe and went home to test it.

New machine didn’t work. Water never got transported into the system. No coffee on Sunday either. Did all the actions required to test it, but no luck. Out came the old regular coffee brewer again but this time I broke into 2 capsules of Dolce Gusto coffee and used that to get a decent cup of coffee, instead of using the old stored coffee from I don’t know when… At least I got a cup of coffee that was almost OK.

Monday morning I called the Dolce Gusto people and we agreed on taking the new machine back to the store to get it exchanged. So I did. But I choose another model this time, a Dolce Gusto Circolo.

At that moment I felt I had to get something colorful, to cheer myself up, so I choose a red one, instead of a black which would have been my normal choice. Went home and initiated the machine.

And it worked beautifully. Finally I could again get decent cups of coffee! And I love the round form of the capsule machine and its red color. Glad I didn’t choose a black one.

Now I can again enjoy a good cup of coffee, relaxing and looking at the greenery in my kitchenwindows.

Mar

2014

Are we there soon?

This time of the year I always long for flowers and greenery. Are we there soon?

This is a teaser from last year.
Reload page to sort them differently.
Click on an image to get a regular slideshow. All images ©nini.tjader.2013

Nbr 28/100

Jan

2014

More greenery – Aloe Vera

This green succulent with thorns all along its “leafs” is quite impressive. It is an Aloe Vera.

It used to be in the community house of our housing cooperative where it lead a poor life with no company and almost no water (except when somebody happened to remember it). It was small and thin then. So I took it home for some revival. And it has grown and looks really good today.

Only problem is where to put it as it is getting a bit wide. It presently lives on my kitchen table and keeps on growing. Notice the small green leaves at the bottom of the picture? I think it is a new plant coming up from the “mother-plant”.

Wintergarden

Move of plantbox

Withering plants

Plants moved indoors

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