Spring start

    Finally spring is starting. Here are some pictures of today. Butterflies are enjoying some sun and fresh nectar after long winter sleep.

Inachis io

Polygonia c-album

Double Galanthus

Iris reticulata in combination with early yellow crocus

Phlox paniculata Uspech

Happy New Year!!!

     Today is the first day of the year 2013 and I'm fulfilling a promise that I've made to myself - to start posting on my blog again. It's been more than 6 months since I've posted last time. It was so much going on during these last months that I had neither time nor inspiration to post on my blog. During the winter season break not much is actually happening in the garden so it's a perfect time to look back on the past season and recall my impressions from it.
     Garden season 2012 will be remembered as one of the rainiest seasons in Stockholm area. There were precious few warm and sunny days. This kind of weather was perfect for most of the plants in my garden. Hostas, rhododendrons, astilbe and others were very happy. On the other hand it was a tough summer for my dahlias. Due to rather cold start in June they were growing very slow until mid July. Then they finally started to bloom but with so much rain flowers were getting spoiled very quickly especially on large-blooming varieties.
     Autumn was long and mild. Last dahlia tubers were dug up in the end of October. And some new perennials and spring-flowering bulbs I was still planting in November. Winter started exactly on December 1^st with frost and snow. We got almost 40 cm of snow during first week of December with temperatures down to -15°C in the following weeks. Hopefully, snow will stay thick and keep my plant beds warm and cosy until spring.