It's late spring/early summer in northwestern Norway. We had our around 20°C temps at the end of April/beginning of May so now we've got rain, between 8-12°C, lots of wind and I'm not even tempted to garden. On top of that my camera went *poof* after Christmas so I'm using my husband's camera which is even worse than my old one. I find no joy in photographing my blooms either since I have to struggle through at least 50 tries to maybe get a decent photo. Anyways, I'll beg your forgiveness for the poor quality photos and show some of the stuff in our garden: Meconopsis delavayi is very small and very cute: The Gentiana acaulis: White Meconopsis betonicifolia: The pink Paeonia that I never remember the name of. It's a species: Trollius: White Aquilegia: Primula sieboldii, a white one: Ranunculus aconitifolius 'Flore Pleno': The Arisaema didn't want to bloom in a way that would give me a nice shot of their faces: Ranunculus constantinopolitanus: Rhododendron "Bernstein": These pansies were planted for decorative purposes while we wait for the Dahlias to come up: Cypripedium parviflorum: Cypripedium 'Ventricosum Pastel': Paeonia mlokosewitschii, also known as "Molly the Witch": Meconopsis betonicifolia 'Hensol Violet': The Rhododendron is a slow-growing yak-hybrid, and the hosta's "Fluctuans Sagae": What we grandly call our woodland: Hosta "Spilt Milk": Hosta "Snow Mouse" from Fransen Hostas (sorry about mentioning the breeder but the name is copyrighted): And now for my husband's sudden drive to create lots of garden paths. I like paths in our garden, by all means, but I wanted narrow, meandering paths like the ones Sjoerd's been showing, not autostradalike walkways criss-crossing areas that might otherwise have been lovely flower borders. I can't say anything about that of course. He's been working like a maniac so I pat his shoulder, hug and kiss him and tell him he's done well. I'll find somewhere else to plant. Things are still in progress so the finished result will probably look a little different. First an overview of his pond project that I call "Trollveggen" or "The Troll Wall": The supervisor can be spotted in the lower right-hand corner. My Hosta path now has a proper path alongside it: This creation wasn't even on this year's projects list, not to mention garden budget: I can't plant anything in that tempting-looking bark chip-covered piece because that's our plum tree in the middle and plants won't survive the hordes of plum-craving children flocking here in autumn. At least we got rid of some 15-20 square meters of grass, moss and weeds that we used to call a lawn. 8) Finally our bamboo spirit scarer, the water splashing feature at the top of the pond: The lower pipe collects the water from the top sprout: When full it tips over and empties the water into the pond: When returning it makes a pleasant thump-thump sound. I thought all that splashing and thump-thumping migh be too much but it isn't. We've got a pump in the lower pond so the water's constantly circulating. We'll need to empty the whole thing before the frost and cover it up during winter since my husband insisted on building up instead of digging down. That's all for now. We're off tomorrow. We're going to a play park to relax and enjoy ourselves. See you on Monday I hope. Take care of yourselves.
Beautiful, beautiful blooms Droopy. The paths are nice and they do look like a lot of work. I love the spirit scarer, may have to put Randy to work making a small one for the wash tub water planter.
Geez Droopy.... I don't know where to start! The blooms are lovely... all of them. And you haven't began gardening yet??!!! I absolutely love the pond! Awesome rock work. I've been thinking about building one "up" also... but with a preform. Maybe your Husband can give me some tips? And his walkways look very nice. I bet they'll even look better once they get planted around and get "settled in". What plans do you have for the open area under your plum tree? I envision some comfy chairs and cute little statues. But then I saw your bamboo spirit scarer! How cool is that??!!! Pats on the back to you both! Can't wait to see everything once you start gardening! :-D Enjoy your holiday!
Droopy, I love your pictures. Each time I see a pitcher plant I say 'I'm going to get one.' So far it is still on my wish list. Clever pond feature. You might try a bird feeder in the vacant spot under the plum tree. A lot of work on those nice pathways. Thank you. Jerry
Droopy Your pictures are beautiful. You did a great job. The genetians are suck a gorgeous color. Thanks for the tour.
Well you certainly know how to make me and turn me pea green into the bargain. I LOVE your garden Droopy. The paths look fantastic and the planting is beautiful (especially the blue and white of course ) The troll wall is great and so is the pond. The spirit scarer is something I've always wanted to have here but have never managed to get round to it. It sounds as though you are experiencing the same weather conditions that we have here. We had winds last week that reached 100 miles per hour - very scarey!!
Thanks all for your lovely comments. :-D Thanks toni. The spirit scarer's been stored in our basement for 14 years or so, just waiting for us to make somewhere for it to live. We are good at planning ahead but not very good at getting round to doing whatever it was we planned. Well, we do garden, but did most of the cleaning and weeding three weeks ago. Since then I've only fertilized and tugged up a few dandelions. We've got bushes and perennials so there's really not much work involved. The weeds are now taking over in certain areas so I hope for better weather so I can get the north side (Walls of Jericho) and the east side sorted. The pond is two preforms put together with a small pipe connection between them. We wanted a little water fall but didn't manage to make it the way we wanted. (Or hubby didn't.) I guess the area by the plum tree will tell us what it wants in due time. No plans there unless the plum tree suddenly dies on us. I like the Arisaema because they're so different from other plants. We had four but last winter's hard frost killed two. I want to replace them and hope I find new ones somewhere this summer. I won't put a bird feeder anywhere as long as we've got two cats. We feed birds on the veranda during winter, since the cats don't like to be outside much then. The tomcat, Lord Paint, actually brings us sea gulls. So unless we want to feed eagles I think we'll let the neighbours enjoy the birds. Thank you Carolyn. I'll give you more tours as I get the place sorted. I thought you'd like the blues and whites. Good luck on getting your spirit scarer. The wind's rather rough at times. We've had to weigh down bucketes, chairs and other stuff likely to go for a trip on it's own. Fortunately our trees are still standing.
Droopy... Regarding the pond being built "up". Did he simply place the preform on blocks? Or did he mound dirt up to fill in under it? Or both?
I loved "Molly the Witch" and I just adore your "Supervisor" I used to have a tuxedo cat....it's amazing how some cats just love to follow you around in the garden isn't it? My Max does that. I hear you about walkways bing small and meanandering, but he did do a very nice job on it all.
Wonderful! What a lot of work you all have done. I'll bet those paths will be perfect as the plantings mature and plants layer themselves over the edges. I think they are fantastic now and what a treat to have. I always drool over your orchids. Thanks for posting
The Gentiana acaulis, looking quite nice....the Trollius clump is just sublime--do you have them in the full sun? The large clump of Ranunculus aconitifolius 'Flore Pleno' look so pleasant and give a "white spot" in your garden. Your two Arisaema's look pretty nice, don't they? I have noticed that every year that they come up they face a different direction, without one speck of consideration to me and my viewing. (not to mention foto making. That plastic trug full of pansys really do look playful there--so colourful. I saw thast you have a couple of Meconopsis that are looking quite spiffy, too. You must be pretty proud of the Cypripedium's--they look very nice, especially that big patch of them. Your Rhodie's, hosta's and woodland are such a delight to see. I like the woodland. That snow mouse is looking particularly good, I find. BTW--how many different "mice" do you have now? Now then.....what can I say about your man's path and pond constructions. That dude really has been a busy beaver, hasn't he! I like the way that the paths look. Did you say that he had put 'root cloth' underneith the gravel? Is that limestone from the Ardenne's? The water feature is supurb...unique, even. The water tipper is a very nice idea, its clever and playful, as we would say here. I think that you ought to give that guy's work a big stamp of approval! hahaha. Those paths are so good that they give what part of your garden that I can see, a sort of 'park-look'...you know, a sort of 'large and manicured' feel. Yes, the combination of the flower types and the new constructions that your man has done really get high marks. Do they have a "Yellow Book" up there, like in Britain. If they do, your garden might be considered for it. Well done you, all-round!
Hi Droopy -- wow, did I ever enjoy seeing all the things you have growing and the projects you've been working on. It all looks just wonderful. I just love that spirit scarer -- I can imagine the sounds... I'll bet it attracts the good spirits too. The troll wall is pretty too. That whole scene there is somehow whimsical and grounded at the same time. Love it all... You both must be feeling good and I hope you also got top marks from the "Supervisor."
Thank you both for liking it. Both and then some. He put the preforms on top of leca bricks dug into the dirt, then filled up with small stones underneath and around to stabilize the thing. Finally he built his stone wall using huge rocks, smaller rocks and some sand and gravel. Both our cats follow us around, and both are tuxedo cats. They put their stamp of approval on anything we do outside, from making ponds and walkways to sowing seeds. They show their displeasure by digging up our seeds and plants if we put them somewhere we shouldn't. Gotta love them though. Thanks Jewell. We've got a couple of new orchids that won't bloom this year, but maybe next year. The Trolliuses live in near full sun. They don't do well up here otherwise. Our "full sun" is the equivalent to semi-shade elsewhere. We've only got three "mice", but will get more eventually. Mother's got two that she's fattening up and a friend of mine's got four or five more she's promised to divide when they're big enough so we'll have several eventually. Large and manicured indeed! Thank you for thinking so. I'm currently working on finding plants that will creep onto the gravel eventually, just to soften the "manicured" part. Yes, he put a ground cloth underneath the gravel, and the gravel's very local in origin so it's not our fault that the Ardennes are disappearing. Thankfully no Yellow Book here. We wouldn't want to be entered in it anyways. Our garden's our own, even though we enjoy sharing it with friends and people we know who are interested. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Thanks DB. I love your description. We are rather whimsical. I usually claim our garden projects are planned when we're drunk and executed during a hang-over. And some of them just sort of happen because we need room for new plants or need to move some that have grown too big orororor... The Supervisor and his sister are very happy since they've got some very big water bowls now, and I think they've decided the big bark patch underneath the plum tree's their new toilet. :-? I've cleaned up and spread "Cat-Away" all over the patch and surrounding borders so now the entire garden smells of cheap perfume.
