plants

Aug

2019

On my windowsills

The western kitchenwindow 2019-+8-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In my opinion, windowsills are for plants and flowers. Makes the rooms nice to be in.

At this time of the year, the content on the windowsills is in transition between summer and autumn and there are far less plants there than in the cold season as some of them live outdoors during the warm season.

Kitchenwindows 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In the kitchen

My kitchen has two dinws. One to the south, one to the west. In the kitchen I use plants instead of curtains. One of the plants is my huge philodendron that follow the curtainrod over both the windows. It starts in its pot on the floor though. I’ve had that one for many years by now and it started its life in my previous flat.

The southern kitchenwindow, 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In the southern kitchenwindow I presently have two hanging plants and smaller ones on the sill. There are one small cactus (that grows really slow), three Saint Paulia grewn from leaves, and one Thai Basil to the right which you cannot see in this picture.

The western kitchenwindow, 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In between the two dinwos I presently have a kind of cactus on a high stand, then cuttings from fig trees and Saint Paulia and a regular basil. Two hanging pots with tradescandia (two different kinds). And a potus hainging up there as well.

Hanging plant in the kitchenwindow. 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In the corner between the two windows in the kitchen, 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In the livingroom

In the livingroom I have one west-facing window beside the door to the patio.

Livingroomwindow, 2019-08-17.Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

I recently re-organized the plants in the livingroom-window and moved one of the hanging plants from the kitchen to here. There was more room in the window here than in the kitchen. I also led the Monkey Face monstera upwards when I gave it a larger pot and new soil as it was becoming very long.

I have a bench in front of the window to be able to have more plants there. The lamp on the bench is from Ikea, but the bulb in it from ICA Maxi (grocery store).

Ficus. 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

The above ficus is from cuttings from my neighbour. It is fast getting big now so it too got new soil and a new pot.

Monkey Face monstera in the livingroom window, 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

On the floor in the corner of the livingroomwindow I have a hug tradescantia. Had to get a new plantstand for it from Ikea. It still reaches the floor from the stand…

Tradescantia in the livingroom, 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In the bedroom

I have one small window in the bedroom.

Bedroomwindow 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

The bedroomwindow is pretty empty presently On the sill, behind the curtains, are my cactus plants. The I have a chests of drawers in front of the window that I also use for plants, but mainly wintertime. At the moment there are only two aloe vera here. Wintertime some of my pelargonias live here.

Cactus and haworthia in the bedroomwindow, 2019-08-17. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2019

In just a month or so I will have to solve the problem of where to put my figtrees and pelargonias that have to come in from the patio. Which to keep and which not and where to place them. Meanwhile they are just fine outdoors.

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

Pelargonia Attar of roses

Plectranthus scutellarioides

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

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.

Oregano

Thyme

Crocus

Moss on treestump

Oregano

Parsley

Carnations

Mint

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…

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.

Ginkgo Biloba 2017-07-01. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

Ginkgo Biloba 2017-08-08. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

Ginkgo Biloba 2017-08-19. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

Ginkgo Biloba 2017-09-09. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

Aug

2017

The Green Curtain

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini,tjader.2017

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 green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

The green curtain. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

The green curtain. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

The green curtain, philodendron. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

The green curtains, philodendron. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

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

The green curtain. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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.

The green curtain. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2017

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

Apr

2017

Too many plants… it is somewhat crowded

Plants in the kitchen 2017-04-16. Too crowded. Photo:©nini.tjader.2017

There are too many plants everywhere at the moment. It is somewhat crowded. To use the kitchen table for instance, I need to temporarily move various plants and seedlings.

I’ve had to move around lots of the plants to be able to use space and light as best I can. Some of the orchids have had to take a step down from the windowsill to other plants that need the light more.

The kitchen table is occupied by tomato-seedlings and some other seedlings. The tomatoes have been replanted once so far. I keep on taking away new plants that keep coming up. The tomato-seedlings all comes from tomatoes bought in the supermarket. They grow like crazy.

Some of the seedlings are flowers that will be placed outside when they get bigger and weather permits.

It sits low on a low piedestal. To the right of it you see one of the orchids that I had to move down from the windowsill to get more space there.

And here are some more images of the plants that crowd my kitchentable and the windowsills in my flat presently. Reload page in browser to make images sort differently. Click an image to see a larger version.

Olivetree

Musk mallow

Parsley

Cobaea scandens

Red mint and red basil

Plants

Basil

White geraniums

Sweet peas

Olive tree

Sweet peas

Plants and seedlings

Rosemary

Plants

Geranium, pelargonia of the year 2017

Plants on the kitchen table

Musk mallow

Plants on the kitchen table

Parsley

Basil

Red and green basil

White geraniums

White geranium

Meanwhile outside there is still some snow in a corner and we are waiting for warmer weather. Not around the corner presently though…

Jan

2017

Orchid phaleanopsis – it is orchid time

Orchid phaleanopsis, the most common orchid in most homes. It is now orchid time. All my six orchid phaleanopis are either blooming or on their way to start blooming. They all bloom about twice a year. They live in the area of my kitchen windows, one south facing, one west facing.

Three of my orchids were replanted, roots trimmed, bark exchanged and leca added recently. Three still need to be taken care of, even though they have meanwhile started to bloom. The above orchid is my oldest, the very first I got years ago. It blooms about twice a year every year.

My orchids have been around for quite some time. The three I replanted recently I set in glass vases without a hole in the bottom. Leca balls at the bottom, som bark in between the plentiful roots. They get water very seldom and those three I have replanted I check carefully after watering so the water is not drowning them.

Phaleanopsis orchids are really easy to care for and very seldom need watering. Mine get water only about every second week or so.

To know if an orchid need water, just check its leafs. If they are solid and shiny, it doesn’t need water at that stage. Don’t give it more water then. If leafs feel soft somehow, it needs water.

You can also shower them regularly, on leafs and flowers and flower buds. They love that. They take in a lot of what they need of humidity from the air around it. The drier their surroundings, the more they need to be showered now and then.

The above orchid is my newest (just a couple of years) one. It will get yellow flowers. This year it has two stems for the first time. Those yellow flowers use to stand for a couple of months every time it blooms.

The yellow one is one of the three I recently replanted. It has a dying leaf that looks a bit boring. But, dying leafs should never be removed until they have dried away completely and are easy to remove. Let the nourishing from it go back into the plant before you remove that ugly leaf.

You can also check the health of an orchid by looking at is roots. Are they thick and green (or sometimes white-ish depending on how much light they have got) the plant is fine. Are shrivelled and dry and brown? Plant may still be fine, but those roots can be removed/cut off as they have no purpose any more.

Watch out for its leafs if it stands close to a window. The leafs can get burn-damage both from cold windows and too much sun and hot windows. It is fairly common and looks like a large dry spot on the leaf. It won’t harm the plant, but it doesn’t look nice. Windows can get really cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. Move those plants so they do not touch the windows.

I have always been fascinated by the orchids flowers. Take a close look at them. Sometimes they look butterflies, sometimes their insides looks like small leopards are residing inside the flower.

My orchids do not use sticks to hold them up. That is not how they grow in the wild. They hang.

I use one of Ikeas hanging planters for the three orchids that haven’t been re-planted yet. I will probably not be able to use that after they’ve been re-planted.

When the flowers are done and finished you end up with an empty flowerstem. It might be tempting to cut that off. Do NOT do that. Keep it as long as it is alive. You might get new flowers on it at a later stager. If the flowerstem dries and dies, then you can cut it off. It is then yellow and dry. If not, let it remain.

I love orchids. But I only have one kind, the phaleanopsis in various colors. Maybe I will get some new color and/or new kind one day, but presently six (6) orchids are enough.

Dec

2016

Plants & Light

Plants & Light

We are at the peak of the dark season. It won’t get any darker now. Winter solstice was yesterday. Now it will only get lighter. But until it does…

Until the light comes back, you have to help the plants and give them some additional light.

Some lights are for Xmas decoration and don’t give all that much light to the plants, other lights for keeping the plants alive over the dark winter months.

For the latter I use a lamp called SUNLITE that comes from Venso Eco Solutions. It costs SEK 349, so not cheap. One is used for my figtree when it is indoors over winter. I got the first one about two years ago at a garden fair and used it over winter for the first time last winter.

This year I got a second one, for my olivetree. This time at a regular plantshop. Both have white shades, but you can get it in other colors.

The lamp has a periscope stand that you “plant” in the pot and drag out to desired length. The cord is really long so you can get it into the nearest electric outlet. The light is LED, with specific strength for plant-needs.

It kept my figtree alive the entire winter-period last year and I hope it will do that also this year, as well as for the olive-tree.

In the bedroom, where the figtree stand, I also have a decorative star lamp in the window, as is usual this time of the year. It doesn’t do all that much good for the plants, but it gives a cozy light.

In the livingroom I also have lights in the window that are more seasonal than for the good of the plants. They co-work with the plant-light. There are also various candles here.

When I shot the pictures we had snow outside. That is long gone now and there is no snow presently.

Both the plantlights and the decorative Xmas-lights are connected to timers that turn them on and off at the times I set for them. Very convenient.

The light is coming back though as from today onwards. I’m looking forward to some more daylight. This time of the year it is really dark.

Nov

2016

Kitchenplants in November

The kitchenplants in my kitchenwindows look their best in the morning, provided the sun is shining. This time of the year is usually dark and gloomy with very little daylight. So, when there IS som daylight I try to use it to shoot some pictures. In November the Xmas decorations etc are not up and around yet. They will be very soon. Those days when the sun shines – long in between – the light in the kitchen is beautiful in the mornings.

I cannot get enough of that light.

The plants in the kitchenwindows vary over time. This is the situation just now. Some die, new ones are added, some move from these windows to other windows.

I’ve got six (6) orchids. Three of them nowadays are placed in the plant-hangers, two in one of the windows, and one has moved onto the plantstand where I earlier had the muelenbeckia (now removed and in the trash). All six of the orchids will soon bloom. Flowerstems and buds are on their way.

Before the orchids open their flowers I will have re-planted them, cleaned their roots and placed them in some new pots. (I’ve been collecting/assembling some nice glass vases for this purpose). All my orchids are growing horizontally and have huge bundles of roots, some alive, some not.

My ginkgo biloba above is losing leafs presently and some of those that have not fallen off are getting somewhat yellow. I guess that is normal? I don’t think it is supposed to be green the year around.

The hanging plants – including three of the orchids – are those plants that look the best presently. Despite the normally grey and dark November-light. It is only this light when the sun is out and it is morning.

I’ve restarted the above plant. Its stems got all naked and had leaves only at the end of them. So I simply reduced their lengths and put them into new soil. They get roots very fast and now look just fine.

Its green relative has never looked better. I love it the way it looks just now.

Even this small plant is looking good. It even got “flowers”, lots of them.

One of my two rosemary plants – which both live outdoors during the warm season – is still having flowers. Both seem to be at good health indoors so far.

I only kept one of my pelargonias when it was time to move them indoor. Simply didn’t have space for all of them. The one I kept is the white one. I kept the smallest of them. It keeps on getting new flowers…

And this one… I divided it into two in the spring and they are both thriving and throwing out long arms with flowers and leaves. They’ve become really big.

Oh, almost forgot about this one. A fragranced pelargonia. I’ve been waiting for it to grow roots for weeks. Now they come, at the darkest period of the year. If it survives the rest of the winter I’ll have one more pelargonia for next year.

The above picture of one of the kitchenwindows was shot last week when the snow was still there outside. All white and adding light. All the snow is gone by now. It has all melted.

I love that light in the kitchen in the mornings. So do my kitchenplants.

Sep

2016

Plantselfie september 2016

I’ve always found it difficult to take selfies. I just don’t look the way I think I look when in a selfie. Taking a selfie means you have to look at yourself, in the camera (smartphone) and preferably smile at the same time you shoot the picture. Taking a selfie together with your plants/a plant/ is no easier…

The above two pictures is of me with my red oxalis. The plant normally is inside but the light outside was better so shot there. The red oxalis, which lost all its stems and flowers recently when re-planting it, is coming along just fine. So far one leaf, and the beginning of a flower is also on its way.

When outside with the plants there, I also shot a pantselfie with my figtree. The figtree is outside over summer but will get inside – provided I find a suitable place to put it – in a couple of weeks when the weather turns too cold and gloomy announcing oncoming winter. The figtree has grown a lot lately. It likes the unusually warm and sunny summer we have had and still have.

When I sat there under the figtree trying to find a good angle for the tree, Gustav, my neighbors male cat, wanted to participate too and to sit on my lap. So, he got into the picture as well… He looks a bit odd that close to the camera…

One of my big Mårbacka pelargonia also got into the picture. I have two of those. The one above is the one looking the best. They are both really big and survived last winter indoors. This year I will not bring them in though. Simply no space. They’ll be outside until the frost takes them, then into the recycling.

plantselfie, calientepink, nini, pelargonia

The caliente pink pelargonia WILL go inside though. Seems to be a healthy enough plant that might make it through winter indoors.

Above how the caliente pink looks all by itself.

This is my hanging pelargonia called balcon red. It is too big and too heavy to really “hang” so it stands on the railing of my patio. That one will not go inside when cold comes. I have nowhere to place it inside. Even though it is large, has lots and lots of red flowers by this time of the year, it will actually go into the garbage when cold comes. A pity? Yes. But no choice.

Below the last plantselfie for this time. Three pelargonias and an olive tree I managed to squeeze into this picture. The closest one is a pelargonia with fragrance which I don’t remember the name of. Haven’t decided yet if it will go inside or not when it no longer can be outside. Depends on if I can find a place for it or not.

Task accomplished, plantselfie pictures for the Urbanjunglebloggers in september.

In the kitchen

In the livingroom

In the bedroom

Wintergarden

Move of plantbox

Withering plants

Plants moved indoors

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