Welcome! Tervetuloa!

I slept like a baby last night. 🙂 Somehow the idea of spending lots of money on dirt and plants does that to me 😀  I placed another order via catalog from viherpeukalot since I was quite happy with the plants and bulbs I received from them before and after visiting the local plant places, we saw availability of perennials this time of year was drastically limited to leftovers from spring – Not much and nothing looking very good.

While out shopping though, I did snag a deal on a bundled group of 3 rose bushes (rosa allgold) for 9.95 (that were originally that price each. They will do well mixed in with the other well established roses in the side yard in what is becoming the ‘woodland garden.’ And I grabbed a deal on 3 packages of bulbs for 5€– getting Oxalis articulata (Iron Cross-pink sorrel), Anemonen coronaria (De Caen-color variety), and Hosta (Albomarginata – funkia) – basically a solid green leafed hosta with white lily-like spikes. As the bulbs are all out of season and planting should have been months ago, it’s a gamble that may or may not pay off. But at 5 euros I won’t be too upset if things go badly. 🙂

I had Pekka take care of ordering the soil for the new garden that will wrap around the side and front of the house. Now that construction in this area is nearly finished and moving elsewhere, I can get some plants established and have something beautiful to look at when spring arrives next year.  Once again we’ll be getting our soil from Siisti Piha.

There’s still the front door steps and landing to sort out. I’ve come to the conclusion placing the landing with the stairs angled out facing the road instead of as they were previously (see our home page blog photo) is the way to go. This is great for my garden plan as I can now wrap the entire bed from the edge of the stone retaining wall (left side of pic frame) to the new stairs. The drainage gravel got a bit wide in places, and there’s still elevation issues which need leveling. The plants and soil won’t arrive for another week to 10 days, so hopefully that’s enough time to get things sorted.

As for what I ordered via catalog; I decided to reintroduce some evergreen bushes into the mix and will place 5 Thuja occidentalis ´Danica´, Clematis fauriei x sibirica ´Albina Plena´, Hydrangea paniculata ´Mustila´, Potentilla thurberi ´Monarch´s Velvet´, and a perennial mix. Plus there’s the spring flowering bulbs that underlie the bed: 10 Tulipa gesneriana Darwin-ryhmä, 10 Tulipa gesneriana Kerrannaiset myöhäiset- Angelique 60 Scilla forbesii, 60 white/red mixed tulips. Hopefully it’s enough to create a cheerful front entrance. I’m going to introduce more evergreens in planting beds close to the house to provide year-round color. And I’d like to get a couple (at least) new spruce for the yard to break up the monotony of plum, cherry and apple trees and also to replace some of those unfortunate trees that we had to cut down.

My dahlias are going nuts and are just now starting to blossom. Can’t wait for the lilies to join in, although their flower show will be so short.

Think this one on the left is Lillehammer, the next up to blosson is Ice Cube (below) with an interesting pink blush/creamy color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmm. Well the electricians just showed up and I wasn’t expecting them.. or anyone until Wednesday when the next Puukeskus order arrives bring the blocks, cement, etc for the masonry of the new construction. Sun is shining and somewhere I have a plant that needs a drink I’m sure. 🙂

Have a great day from Vanha Talo Suomi! ❤