Garden Appreciation Thread

It’s snowing in Stockholm today

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I’m not surprised. :joy: I loved living in Uppsala, but yeah, spring arrived later that’s for sure. ^^’

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The Christmas tree grew very well last summer :eyes:


猫・ねこ

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Today I went to the park for a proper 花見 :cherry_blossom: :cherry_blossom: :cherry_blossom: I brought bento and everything. :yum:

On the way to the park I saw some more spring signs:


Dandelions (タンポポ or more formally 蒲公英 or ほこうえい)


and some cute Daisies (Bellis perennis) 雛菊 or ひなぎく

These cherry trees bloom last of the ones in the park.


These are just about to bloom and are of a white variety. ^>^

I found myself a nice spot…


弁当 time! :yum: お握り (おにぎり), green beans (隠元 or いんげん), 卵焼き or たまごやき (japanese rolled omelet), fried green onions (葱 or ねぎ) in marinade.

美味しかった! ^>^

I had company of some inquisitive birbs! Fieldfare (ノハラツグミ) looking for 虫 (むし).

After my meal, I wandered around the park


Wood anemone


Pilewort or lesser celandine


???


More cherry trees, that didn’t bloom last visit!


Wild daffodil ラッパ水仙 or らっぱずいせん and a flower which I don’t know the name of.


They also have a stunning orange variant in this garden but none that was blooming at the time. These flowers are very sculptural in full bloom.


Another type of wild daffodil. They also have Poet’s daffodil in this park but I sort of forgot to take a photo of that.


Grape hyacinth (in swedish pärlhyacint=pearl hyacinth which I think is a little more poetic ;)). In Japanese they went for the latin name ムスカリ. These have a very strong smell.

A couple of tulips チューリップ have started to bloom, but most are still waiting for warmer weather.


These wood anemone are not the common forest variety, but have double the amount of petals.


The magnolia trees (朴の木 or ほうのき) are starting to drop their flower petals. :cry:


I have no idea what these are, but they look like bamboo shoots (竹の子 or たけのこ) coming up of the ground. :joy:


I’m sure these are flowers though.


The sun came and went and let’s just say it wasn’t that warm without the sun. It was just 10 degrees Celsius.

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To end this overly-long post, here’s also…


…Mr. Bumblebee (丸花蜂 or まるはなばち) having a sakura snack! :honeybee: ^>^

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I think your first ??? flower (the yellow ones) are called pilewort in English, or 段戸襤褸菊 . They are actually edible before the flowers start to bloom (but turn poisonous afterwards) and they contain lots of vitamin C, that’s how the plant got its German name Scharbockskraut (Scharbock is an old name for Skorbut / scurvy which is a vitamin C deficiency syndrome).

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Thank you! I’ll edit in the info! ^>^

But I think the 段戸襤褸菊 is wrong. It’s fireweed on Jisho and googling 段戸襤褸菊 gives me images of another flower I recognize. Also yellow, and gets those dandelion-esque seed pods that fly away with the wind. They’re a bit like smol dandelions, but with lots of small yellow flowers.

Pic online of 段戸襤褸菊 or ダンドボロギク.
dandob99

Lesser celandine in comparison

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probably hosta, but there are a few other similar shoots. my guess in hosta

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Oh I see! Sorry, that one got lost in translation :sweat_smile: I only knew its German name so I looked up the English name and then from that the Japanese name, which probably sent me down the wrong alley…

But right now I tried my luck on Google using its botanical name and it seems to be called ヒメリュウキンカ Ficaria verna (ヒメリュウキンカ) | Ficaria verna [formerly Ranunculu… | Flickr

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I glanced through your photos when you first posted them, but now I have examined and enjoyed them more thoroughly. It is so beautiful where you live!
It is so important to remind oneself to take a moment to appreciate the season around you.

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Thanks. It’s very well kept. I’ll try to take other photos of this park as it really transforms throughout the seasons. It makes it extra fun to check it out. :relaxed: <3

Right now you can see all the flower beds, but towards the end of summer the biggest plants and grasses create a maze-like feeling to this garden. They’re huge. But before then, there’s always something blooming. :slight_smile:

Since there’s lots of flowers that I don’t recognize, I might need to enlist your help again guessing what they are! ^>^

(I’ll also get back to you with the bamboo shoots/hosta once they’ve grown a bit)

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@RoseWagsBlue look what I came home to! It’s It’s first one of my cucurbits to poke their head up, but looks like there’s a globe courgette just breaking through too

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I have been thinking about you as I worked in the garden all day!

How to Grow シソ

  1. Get some growing some year.
  2. The next year, forget to stratify seeds.
  3. Plant seeds.
  4. Seeds do not come up.
  5. Tons of cute little red seedlings come up wild all over the garden from the year before.
  6. Move those seedlings where you would like.

I have many successes and failures to report already this year. To many things that I want to plant! I will share with you soon. :slight_smile:

:heart:

(for supper, I am going to cook down some cabbage leaves that survived winter and are going to seed. I am then going to use that in chilli. Wish me luck!)

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I might as well plan my day in the garden right here.

  • Take garden photos while I work
  • Work on neighbor’s raised bed (build bed, move soil)
  • mow out by street
  • run weed trimmer in neighboring lot
  • put down cardboard on weeds
  • whoo-hoo!! Make cattle-panel arch! (then move grape vines over to arch)
  • plant more cutting flowers
  • plant voodoo lilies
  • prepare corner for petunias

But first, vacuum in house!

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I got my hair cut at the hair salon and that allowed me to pass by this lovely side-street full of pygme Magnolia trees/bushes. ^>^ :sparkling_heart:

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I went for another garden visit and got some more pics of this plant!

I can neither confirm or deny it could be hosta! This investigation will be continued! :female_detective:

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a can confirm themmer hosta

if i was a deer, i would eat them :deer:

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Here’s some more pics from the same garden! ^>^

Lots of tulips are blooming right now! :tulip:


I don’t know any tulip names, but the pink small plant is a Fänrikshjärta (Eng. Western or Pacific bleeding heart).

(the Swedish names are military ranks for some reason “fänrik”, “löjtnad” :joy:).


At another location there’s the bigger variety "Löjtnadshjärta (Engl: Asian bleeding-heart). The Japanese name is 華鬘草 or けまんそう.

There’s also a white variety of Western bleeding heart. ^>^

Last time there were lots of cherry trees and magnolia (朴の木 or ほうのき) blooming. It’s mostly over, but not fully. Especially the pink magnolia trees are later to bloom.

A couple of Rhododendron (石南花 or しゃくなげ or ロードデンドロン) bushes are now in full bloom.

This garden also has a large gathering of relatives of the Rhododenron: Azaleas 躑躅 (usually written in kana つつじ or ツツジ or using アザレア)


Some starts earlier than others.


This one doesn’t look like much right now, but will burst into a cloud of intensely cerise blossoms. I’ll try to catch a photo of it later! :slight_smile:


Some kind of special variety of Daffodil

White daffodil

Pingstlilja (Eng: poet’s daffodil)

Some plants I don’t know what they are, but that are lovely:

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These grow HUGE in late summer!

On the way to the park…


Syren (eng: Lilac), Japanese name:紫丁香花 or むらさきはしどい or ライラック. It’s not quite there yet, but very soon the beautiful purple flowers will bloom and fill the air with their intense fragrance.


Common lady’s mantle full of dew :droplet:

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This gorgeous cherry tree is still in full bloom! :cherry_blossom:

It also smells wonderful outside…the reason is that the wild growing Hägg are now in full bloom! (Engl. bird cherry, hackberry,hagberry, or Mayday tree (prunus padus)). Japanese name is 蝦夷上溝桜 or えぞのうわみずざくら - short and easy! :wink: )

Well, that’s all I got from this walk! I do love this park and how many flowering plants of various kinds there are to see. There’s always something new to experience no matter what time of the year I go visiting. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Your pictures make me want to that park!

We are on to irises here:

Also veggies:

But the big news will be over in “nature appreciation” in a few minutes. :slight_smile:

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Your garden is lovely and organized. And the light in the first pic is stunning (green and fresh)! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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The cardboard really helps to make a weed-free garden. It is even much better when you have enough wood chips to cover the cardboard. Somehow though my driveway is always full of something else so I can’t get a load of wood chips.

With regards to the light: a few years of taking B+W pictures has taught me that the quality of the final image is largely dependent on the light. It is almost a cliche in B&W photography, but it is no less true. That same glowy lighting is also important in color pictures.

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