pelargonias

The ugly season and pelargonias

garden

The garden, 2019-02-16. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

It is now officially the ugly season. The period between winter and spring. And the time for the pelargonias to wake up.
Snow is gone  –  hopefully we will not see any more snow this season.
Greenery hasn’t woke up yet. But it will the next couple of days as warmer weather has been promised.
It is still cold outdoors. One day it rains. The next it snows. The next it rains.

icy,
Icy 2019-02-09. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

Or sudden frost and really cold nights that makes it next to impossible to walk outdoors on sidewalks and walkways. The green grass is about to wake up, but not really yet…

gustav, cat

Gustav wounded. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

Gustav, the neighbour cat, got wounded catching a fat rat. Gustav is fine now and healing fast. He caught the rat that for some time was stealing bird-food and even climbed the metalrod to get to the feeder. I’ve removed msot fo the bird-food since I saw him/her the first time. Bird with a tail in the feeder? No thanks.

rat, deadrat

Dead rat, 2019-02-19. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

The rat is dead and went in to the common bin. Good riddance… Gustav killed it and brought into his mom and left it on her office floor… I am grateful that he doesn’t consider me being his mom so he has to bring me such gifts…

pelargonia, mårbacka

Mårbacka pelargonia. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

With the increasing daylight, the few pelargonias that have survived the winter and the dark are waking up. Above is a cutting that came from the large Mårbacka pelargonia as it broke off from it when I moved it indoors in the autumn.

pelargonia, mårbacka

The mother plant of the Mårbacka pelargonia. Photo ©nini.tjader.2019

The motherplant has woken too. I need to cut it down soon and make more cuttings from it. It is growing high. Presently it is 65 cm high from earth up.

Bontrosai, pelargonia

Bontrosai pelargonia. Photo: ©ninitjader.2019

The Bontrosai pelargonia – which originally, a year ago, was the top of Ulla’s Bontrosai  –  is ridiculously high, 75 cm from earth up. It too needs to be cut down, get a new pot, and get siblings. Any day now. I have waited for the daylight to increase.

snowdrop, springflower
Snowdrop, 2019-02-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

The first springflower, a snowdrop appeared a week ago. I have seen the leafs of the crocus coming too, but so far no flowers. But soon.

I long for the real spring, warmth, more light, no frost…

At the gym. 2019-02-04.

Meanwhile when waiting for warmer weather I go 3 times a week to the gym. Above my gym group on February 4th 2019. Till in the middle with Anette our trainer had birthday that day.

Present knitting, a greenish cardigan. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

And I knit (will return to more about that another day). Presently a multi-coloured cardigan from top to bottom. First sleeve almost don, second to follow.

yarn, book, needles
Bought on fair. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

I also visited the Sy- & Hantverksmässan, also called Syfestivalen, on Februari 15th with friend Ulla. I visit this fair whenever it occurs, which is twice a year. The above is what I got this time. The five balls of Opal yarn I won at a contest on the homepage of the fair. The six red skeins will become a simpla sweater when I am done with the cardigan above. This time from a Norwegian pattern that I bought on Ravelry. Looking forward to start it… I try not to knit more than one thing at the time and never start the next project until the one I am working on is done.

yarn, pattern
Yarn and pattern. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

And meanwhile the jungle in the kitchenwindows is still there.

kitchenwindows, kitchen
In the kitchen, 2019-01-27. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019
Posted by nini in cats, Garden, Garden and Nature, Gustav, House plants, indoor plants, kitchen, knitting, pelargonias, spring, Thoughts, 0 comments

Attar of Roses has grown

attarofroses

Attar of Roses pelargonia. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

From May to when it gets cold in the autumn all my pelargonias live outdoors in pots. Either on the patio or out in the garden. At mid August one starts to think about what to do with them when cold strikes and they have to go indoors. Where to put them? That is a big problem when the plants have grown over the warm summer and become really big.

attarofroses, pelargonia

Attar of Roses pelargonia. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

My largest pelargonia is the Attar of Roses. Presently its pot stands in the garden by the fence and just started blooming again. First flowers I saw early in the season shortly after I bought it, then again in June and then nothing until now. I didn’t buy it for its beauty or its flowers but for its nice fragrance. My Attar of Roses is presently 95 cms high, including pot. The pot is probably a bit too small. Might need to re-pot it in a larger pot before I bring it indoors.

attarofroses, pelargonia

Attar of Roses by mid June. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Until mid June or end of June it lived on the patio. As it grew larger and larger it took up too much space there so I moved its pot into the garden by the fence instead.

attarofroses, pelargonia

Attar of Roses 2018-05-29. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

I bought the plant at the garden fair in Älvsjö in the spring. It lived its first months indoors waiting for warmer weather to move it outdoors.

attarofroses, pelargonia

Attar of Roses 2018-03-23. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2018

Attar of Roses is a fragranced pelargonia often used in perfume and rose oil. Its smell is very nice. Much nicer than most other fragranced pelargonias inb my opinion. I like it and would love to preserve it over winter. Indoors. In regular indoor temperature and poor winter light… I have no other option for storing it. But it is big, so where do I put it? Have to solve that before cold strikes.

Posted by nini in Flowers, indoor plants, pelargonias, Plants, 0 comments

Oops! Didn’t mean to take this long a brake from blogging here…

crocus

Crocus with bee, 19th March 2017. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Oops! I didn’t mean to take this long a brake from blogging here… Time sometimes flies faster than you realise.

Meanwhile I was caught in between various activities. Spring finally has arrived and all the snow is gone. For the moment at least. It snowed this night again but snow is now gone again. That’s normal for the season.

larvae

Larvae Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

Both the bees and the larvae are waking up as well as the spring flowers. The soil has thawed (more or less) and spring-cleaning of the garden has begun. Too early yet to dig or plant anything, but soon…

gustav, cat

Gustav asleep. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

Gustav the cat, my neighbours male cat, turned 12 on the 20th of March. He still visits me almost daily if he finds the door to the garden open. May he yet last many years to come.

boots

Garden-boots. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The bench against the warmest wall in the garden is in place again and the neighbour and I and the cats can sit there when weather allows and have coffee and just enjoy the sunshine.

knitting

Knitting. Photo: ©nini,tjader.2017

I have taken up knitting again and again enjoy it. Presently only re-using old yarns from old sweaters that have been unravelled. Had forgotten how much I used to enjoy knitting. And crocheting.

I am also presently participating in an Instagram photochallenge called #fotoutmaningmars2017. It is fun. We have one word or phrase a day during March to interpret with an image and post on Instagram. You do not have to participate every day, but it is a challenge to do so and I really enjoy it. My identity on Instagram is @ninitj. You can also see my latest postings on Instagram in the column to the right if you are interested.

tomatoes

Will be tomatoes? Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

I’ve also been busy sowing all kinds of things. Despite that I said that I would not buy any seeds or sow any seeds again… I’ve usually no luck with sowing seeds.

But here I go again … The above will be (if it succeeds) tomatoes of 4 different kinds. Three different ones in the pink box, and another under the plastic. Those in the box is an experiment with seeds from sliced tomatoes from the grocery store. We will see…

pelargonias

White geraniums. Photo: ©nini,tjader.2017

Now is also the season to tend to your indoor plants and particularly the geraniums. I cut down my only remaining white geranium, which resulted into 8 cuttings, which I planted 2 in each pot. The mother-plant is now smaller and got new soil in a new pot. With a bit of luck I will get 5 healthy white geraniums to move outside when it gets warmer in a couple of months.

pelargonia

Fragranced geranium. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The fragranced geranium which I had as a cutting in a vase for a long time over winter, also survived being planted in its own pot a couple of weeks ago. Originally those cuttings were two, with lots of roots in the vase. One survived being planted, the other one died.

I’ve also knitted two pairs of socks.… That was what awakened my re-born interest in knitting. Then there was one pair of fingerless mittens. And one pillow-case.

knitting, socks

Hand-knitted socks. Photo.: ©nini.tjader.2017

All is well. Spring is here. Summer-time starts on Sunday.
I will not have such a long brake in blogging again… unless I get extremely busy with other things.  But I will always be back. That I promise.

Posted by nini in Thoughts, Various, 0 comments

No More Monstera

monstera, ektorp, chaiseloungue

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2014

I had that huge monstera in the livingroom window. It just got bigger and bigger and bigger … and stole all the light in the room.

The huge monstera is no more. Cut it down and threw it out last week. Tried to give it away but nobody wanted it due to its size. In its place now stands another big plant, a Dr. Westerlund pelargonia, which has moved in from outside. Remains to see if it survives the winter and darkness inside.

Anyway. Room got much lighter after the monstera is gone.

livingroom, window. windowsill, pelargonias

Photo: ©nini.tjader.2014

Posted by nini in Furniture and Decoration, Interior Design, 0 comments

Pelargonia-love

I love pelargonias. The below ones are from last year.

Click on an image to see a larger version.

All pictures are my own photos and ©nini.tjader.2014

Presently I don’t have one single pelargonia at home. None survived the dark autumn followed by winter. Tomorrow I will however visit the Garden Fair at Stockholmsmässan. Might come home with one or two new ones…

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Posted by nini in Garden and Nature, 0 comments