Thursday, June 24, 2010

There was some fog left when I got up this morning but the sun was shining and the birds singing. But when I looked towards where I work the fog laied heavy and stayed like that for many hours.


It´s a rather warm day today. Living in a chill hole during winter isn´t nice at all, but it gets much warmer here during summer instead (well that is when it´s actually warm outside :-) :-)  ). We´ve had up to 25,5c (77f)  today and that´s probably a couple degrees warmer than elsewhere. It´s a shame I can´t store some of this heat to colder and gloomier days later on :-)




Valeriana officinalis (I think that at least), Valerian (we have a couple of relatives to it too). If one knows what one is doing this plant can be used to make a sedative, if one doesn´t know what one is doing one can make a poisson instead :-)


I´m glad to be able to tell You that Orvar is better in his leg now, but I will go to the vet anyway. He´s been limping now and agina for some time now and Iit´s best to chesk it out. But this gigantic dog is a nervous wreck when going to the vet. It must be all scents from other scared dogs that makes him like that, because nothing bad has ever happened to him there or elsewhere.


This is the beginning of a tree I wanted a long time. Black walnut, Juglans nigra. The common walnut (Juglans regia) has no chance what so ever to grow here, but this one is said to be able to make it. But I do have to keep it in a cool place indoors for the first three winters of its life.


Now starts the season for all my blue flowers in the garden. This is a geranium of some kind. It seemes geraniums have found the perfect spot here because they spread like weeds and I have a hard time keeping them under control :-) :-)



I´m having a long weekend now. Midsummer is here and that is probablt as a big holiday here as Christmas is. Since many more read my blog nowdays I´ll explain some about it. We´ve celebrated midsummer here since pagan times and even if the church tried to make it a christian celebration of John the baptist, we´ve never really cared about that. In the pagan times this was a fertility celebration. I won´t go in to details about that :-) I think Your own imagination is enough if You have that info :-) :-) Still today lots of children are born nine months later :-) :-)






So tomorrow they´ll raise the midsummer pole after dressing it with tree branches and flowers. When that is done music starts and people dances around the midsummers pole. Nowdays it´s mostly for small kids and with many songs You´ll have to move in certain ways. Like the very popular song "The small frogs" :-) When translating the song to english it sounds even more strange than it does in swedish :-) "The small frog, the small frogs are so funny to see. The small frogs the small frogs are so funny to see. No ears, no ears no tails they have ......."  Naturally all people then has to jump around like frogs during that dance :-) :-)  Some of those songs works great at christmas too when we dance around the christmas tree :-) I´ll try to find a photo of the midsummers pole until tomorrow.


I´ll even save the blue flowered weeds I have here :-) My garden isn´t a place for perfection, it´s a place for relaxation.

I have big troubles getting lupines like it here. This plant is over ten years old and has never become bigger than it is now.


The mini kiwi vines came yesterday in prime condition and now I have to find a place to plant them. I´m thinking of putting them a couple of yards from my kitchen. I have a small pation on the backside of my cottage, but I usually uses that area to replant smaller plants or to sow new plants or just put pots there, so I can never really use it. So if I sort of shielded the space beside that I could use that new place to enjoy my days outside instead. There´s only one problem with that, one of the worst weeds there is grows there and that could make it hard for the new weeds. The weed is called Creeping bellflower,Campanula rapunculoides. It´s also really beautiful unfortunally, so many plants it in their gardens not knowing what they´ve done. It gets so dense with roots that not even grass survives where they live. The roots are edible and tastes a bit like radishes, but there´s a limit on how much one wants to eat too :-) :-)


This is how a mini kiwi plant looks like as small. This is the male plant called 'Oscar'. I bought this one and two female´. One is called 'Anna' and I´ve forgotten the other name. I´m also to lazy to walk out five meters to check it out :-) :-)


I found this pelargonium (geranium) the other day at the grocery store in Gudhem. I just couldn´t resist those colors! When I had my gardencentre/nurcery these plants were my speciality, or sort of. Nowdays I only keep a few and almost only species.


Now it´s time for a cup of tea and then a journy out in to the blogging world. 
Have a great day now! 

12 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

hi christer....my lupines are dying. i think they got too much sun. i used to have black walnut trees. they grow like weeds here. it is hot to get the nuts out of their shells. what a win for the usa in yesterday's world cup match! i am having a lazy day here. it is so hot and humid it is hard to do much! joyce

Wenche said...

Ha en riktig glad midsommar!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Joyce!
I have a couple lupines growing in sunshine almost all day, so I´m not sure if that could have anything to do with Your lupines dying. But I have some troubles with potted plants dying right now, I think someting is eating their roots.

I wish the black walnuts could grow like weeds here too :-) :-) But I understand that it must be hard to get the nut out of its shell, they are really strong! I did put my walnuts in water for almost a week before I planted them in pots.

It seemes I too can have lazy days now :-) :-) The weather forcast showed lots of sun and heat the comming week :-)
Your new car is fantastic!
have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hej Wenche!
Detsamma önskar jag dig!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Lupines grow wild and beautiful here on our hillsides during the Spring. I am sure they are already beginning to fade if not completely gone.

Thank you for the best wishes, Christer. We will be waiting on the porch with a pot of hot tea.
However...I doubt anyone will actually be able to see us...:)

Our Summer is just beginning...but the weather outside is just wonderful. Warm, but not that horrible heat yet. The one good thing about California's heat is that there is not the humidity that the east coast experiences.
Thank heavens! Great for the complexion though. :)

Take care, Christer.
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
And here the lupines are just starting :-)

I think it might be rather to late for me too by then :-) :-) But we´ll meet as hosts then :-) :-)

We usually don´t have that humidity that Your east coast has either, but then again we don´t have that heat either :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.

Lotta 8`) said...

hihi.. blir lite full i skratt när jag läser om "små grodorna". Minns när vi bodde utomlands och vi skulle minsann fira svensk midsommar och dansade grodorna och ortsbefolkningen - ja, de undrade säkert en hel del..... fniss....

Önskar dig en trevlig midsommar :)

caryn said...

Hi Christer
There are lots of black walnuts growing in my area and I'm in New England. Not quite so cold as you but still pretty cold in the winter. The squirrels get all the nuts. They are the only ones that can crack them without pounding them with a hammer or backing over them with a car. The squirrels also bury the walnuts all over the neighborhood and now there are many offspring of our two old trees. Hope you have good luck with yours. Black walnuts like to be apart from each other by a bit of distance. I've also read that the roots produce a hormone or chemical that can poison other trees.

Sharlene T. said...

I'm so glad 'summer' has finally come to your little corner of the world...beautiful pictures, again, that always brighten my day...thank you, so much, for sharing...and, now, I think I'll actually have some tea...

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Tjänare Lotta!
Ja det måste ju se helkt obegripligt ut för någon som inte vet vad det handlar om :-) :-) :-)

Hoppas er midsommar blir riktigt trevlig också!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Caryn!
I think You might have it even colder than us sometimes in winter. But it´s actually not the cold weather that makes it hard for trees from the south here.

The big problem is that the growing season is to short here, or that winter is to long. If the walnut gets a long warm spring summer anf autumn they can take almost any low temoeratures, our spring, summer and autumn is short and like this year rather cold and that makes a small walnut tree very vulnerable. Even as old a bad summer can kill it during next winter here. So cross Your fingers and hope for luck :-)

Even the leafs contains that poison and that gives the walnut free space to grow as it pleases. Unfortunally we have very few squirrels here, so I´ll have to spread the nuts myself (if it survives and actually give me some nuts :-) :-) ).


Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Sharlene!
Yes finally we don´t have to freeze any more!

I´m glad You like my photo´s :-)
Enjoy Your tea and have a great day now!
Christer.