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Cyprus Sideline
I spent a long and wonderful weekend in Cyprus last weekend when two of my good friends got married there. I had never been to Cyprus before and not surprisingly, I was quite taken by all the wonderful flowers that bloomed very nicely. The whole wedding got a bit more suspenseful than what was bargained for, as it actually rained the day before and on the wedding day and the reception and ceremony were planned to be held outdoors. The groom quoted Alanis Morrisette (in Ironic) “It’s like rain on your wedding day” on his facebook status, supposedly it shouldn’t rain in Cyprus after April.. Bougainvillea, as in the first picture.…
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My Magnificent Magnolia
The picture above is my entry for the Picture This Contest on Gardening Gone Wild. I have Right Click inabled here, so THIS is a link to a downloadable picture. Magnolias are border line hardy in my neck of the woods, so this Magnolia kobus var. borealis that I bought in Sweden and planted in 2002 is a particular darling of mine. This year it is flowering with around a hundred flowers and it smells deliciously. While I took this picture I could hear the sound of a hundred thousand hockey fans celebrating (in the very very far distance) the Finnish Ice Hockey World Championship gold at the market square…
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Spring Sprint
Magnolia kobus var. borealis There is still a little snow behind my house, but even so: Spring has arrived! Taloni takana on vielä hiukan lunta, mutta siitä huolimatta: Kevät on täällä! Det finns ännu en aning snö bakom mitt hus, men trots det kan man säga att: Våren är här! Narcissus triandrus ‘Katie Heath’ Erythronium ‘Pagoda’ Plagiorhegma dubium – varjonäkki – presidentsippa Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’ I got both the Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’ and the Plagiorhegma dubium from a sweet old lady who was also an expert gardener back in 2004. She passed on a few years later and her garden has since been lost. I always remember her fondly when “her”…
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The Imperial Flower
Peonies have been cultivated in China for at least 1500 years, so it’s not surprising that the Chinese can show them off in spectacular ways. Peonies are featured in art, in everyday life and in spectacular plantings. They are probably best celebrated in Luoyang where I visited the famous Peony Festival. The Festival is not one event, but fabulous plantings in several parks with a lot of commercial (I’ve never before seen so much so overt capitalism as in China) activities surrounding them. Even the hospital is peony themed – Sairaalakin on pioniteeman mukainen – T.o.m. sjukhuset följer piontemat Pioneja on kasvatettu Kiinassa ainakin 1500 vuotta, joten ei ole mikään…
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Plenty of Peonies
My two days at the peony festival in Luoyang are now behind me. The weather was splendid and the peonies were flowering their hearts out. The festival is a big deal for the Chinese, but there were not a lot of Westerners besides our group. This meant that we were asked to pose in plenty of pictures with the Chinese; overall the Chinese were very interested in taking pictures of each other and occasionally less of the flowers themselves. I, and my friends on the other hand have by now amassed around a thousand pictures each, and most of them are of peonies.. So, these are just a few I picked…
