M & Co

Simply unruly flower arrangement

Oups! The text turned out a bit small here, so unless you have very good eyes you might want to click on the image to see the directions for creating this unruly country bouquet :-) You can ofcourse use any roses you have, but I suggest using a climbing Hydragena as a grid, if you want to create the unruly effect :-)

Garden Love!

 

Leather Knee pads by Bradley's, French Composition Planter via Bond & Bowery, Hydragena at Smith & Hawken, Set of 4 topiaries at Smith & Hawken, My favourite Wellies by Le Chameau, Outfit by J.Crew. 

As you probably know by now I'm a garden lover :-) I love digging in the soil, my meditation is weeding and I eagerly await for every bud to open! I also have a weakness for gardening gear .... I try not to buy things I really do not need ...but who can resist garden green knee pads ?! And do we ever get enough garden planters with wonderful rustic patinas?! I don't ;-) 

Image Elle Decor July-August 08

I just found my dream garden (and house ;-)) in the latest issue of Elle Decor. The house sits perfectly between mature trees, in a  natural looking,lush green garden. It actually made me decide I have too much flowers now, and I need a larger green backdrop for my white flowers.

Weekend Garden Reading :

Drive bys: The outdoor room edition at The inspired room

More from the gardens at my friend Poppins Tragard

Making it lovely is planning a redo of her front yard! The mock ups are looking good!

Syriner och Snøbollar at Blomsterverkstad

Fundera Grønt a beautiful Sweedish garden blog.

A way to garden former garden editor and editorial director of Martha Stewart Livings fabulous and informative garden blog.

The first roses!

Blanche double de Coubert 

The first roses have started to appaer in my garden now! I'm thrilled as I love my roses, and every year I'm amazed by their beauty. I have a hedge of Blanche double de Coubert along the stairs leading up to our house. Its a rugosa type, low-maintenance rose with filled, bright white roses, and lush dark foliage. I can truly recommend this rose!

J.P Connel 

Along the front porch I have a hedge of J.P Connel roses. This Canadian rose is supposed to be very hardy, and disease free...but unfortunatly here it gets everything a rose can get, every year ....grhmph....  Its really beautiful though, starting of with lemon colored buds, and opening up with large, filled cream roses.

J.P Connel 

I'll give it a bit more time to see if I can figure out a way to keep it healthy, but otherwise I'll have to change them next year.. It is like that with roses, some just does'nt thrive, and then I belive in changing them to something more suitable. I'm having great success with several of the Austin roses however, but they bloom a few weeks later here.

I do not like the heavy use of pesticides that usually comes with roses, so I try doing it organically. Its my first year doing it the organic way but so far its working well! Every few days I'm spraying them with a homemade mixture of water, baking soda, a special soap we call Green Soap. I've also put in a lot of effort to give my roses the best soil condition, and correct amount of water to make them more hardy towards diseases.Lots of manure is key to boost the growth and create healthy roses!

Poet's narcissius part 2

photo: me

Fresh from the garden today :-)

Poet's narcissius part 1

photo: Me

Speaking of snails in the garden ...this little fellow is quite welcome ,-)

The Narcissus poeticus is growing happily in my garden this year. Last year I divided some that never bloomed, and this year I'm rewarded with masses of beautiful white flowers. I really like the yellow and bright orange cup, it sort of gives it this really retro feeling, and makes them gorgeous in cute little boquets ;-)

 

Gardening Weather

For the past few days we've been having gorgeous, sunny weather with +20C, and the garden seems to have exploded! Unfortunately I've had other priorities than gardening lately, so its sort of a jungle out there by now ;-) I'm a bit annoyed though, as today I discovered that the brown, disgusting, Iberia snails have been having a feast in my absence.... It seems they are everywhere, which means I'll have to start my nightly routine of "removing" them....

Over to something more cheerful ;-) Inside, my Dahlias are getting big and ready to plant outside, my Pelargonias are thriving, and all the seeds I collected from my garden last year is growing bigger day by day! I really want to have an all white garden...but since I also have a lot of flowers from when my grandmother did the gardening around here, I still have some areas of color, especially behind the house. One of my favorites are Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus) especially since the make the cutest summer bouquets. So every year, keeping up with my grandmothers tradition, I collect the seeds, and grow new plants in the Spring. I've discovered that If I plant them quite early in Spring I get flowers the same year, otherwise I'll have to wait until next year for them to flower. For next year flowering you could plant them outside in a few weeks :-) I'm sure this beautiful flower will have its renaissance this year!

Hepatica nobilis

In our back garden we have a woodland area which is filled with the beautiful Hepatica nobilis this time of year. I've just left it like it is, even though it is sometimes tempting to make it into a garden area, but in spring and early summer the reward for not touching it is magnificent, with the Hepatica Nobilis flowering in late March/early April, Windflowers a few weeks later and in June the area is covered with Lily of the Valleys.

Today I picked a small posy, making sure to leave many flowers behind on every plant. I learned this from my grandmother, who told me that this would ensure the spreading of the seeds and conservation of the plant.

First Crocus !

I just could not wait any longer...seeing that my Crocus snowbunting was soon to bloom I had to give some of them a helping hand ;-)(I saw this tip in a beautiful blog some weeks ago...and I've tried to find it ...I remember the picture vividly...but who made that post? Argh I hate it when I forget to take a note of posts I'd like to read again and again ....) As soon as I took them inside they started to bloom, I could almost see the  buds open up! I hope you are all having a beautiful easter week?! I am :-)

Update: My grandmothers plant

Daphne mezereum L.

Thanks to all of you for helping me indentify my grandmothers plant! Annalovinda pointed out that this is Tysbast (Norwegian) or February Daphne! (Love that name!) Its native to the vest coast of Norway, but grown in gardens in this part of the country. The plant is highly toxic! So it might not be a god idea to plant it if you have children! The plant has quite an interesting story beeing used in traditional folk medicine and witchcraft. And Marthin Luther wrote : The devils do not dare to chew the Daphne mezerum as it will burn them like holy fire ! Today there is research on the plant in cancer medisin. I must say its quite interesting having a plant with so much history, both to me personally and in general. I'll take good care of it, and keep the dogs away from it now that I know more about it :-)

Source: http://www.rolv.no/urtemedisin/medisinplanter/daph_mez.htm

Another gift from my grandmother

Anyone know what kind of tree this is? Every spring, for a short time, this tree blooms with these tiny, delicate purple flowers. Several of these trees have appeared in a woodland area behind our house, and I have no idea what it is, but I'm quite sure it must have been planted by my grandmother once. If you know, please tell me, as I've been intrigued with these since my first spring in this house.