Hi everyone!

Yes, June arrived to Vanha Talo Suomi, just as it has to every other place. Our dry conditions were relieved somewhat by torrential rain, which pummeled its way through the Nordics. Finland received a sheer dump of rain as a fast moving system sped past later in the week of my last post. When I say torrential, that’s exactly what I mean. The driveway is gutted with runnels and channels from the sheer volume of rain that fell nearly all at once. Our closest weather reporting station reported a 40 cm soaking in a 3 hr period. We received just over half that much – but despite not being enough, it was welcome.

The dry conditions weren’t abated even by that much water. Instead of orange danger of fire, we demoted to yellow, which is where we linger with much of the country still desperate for much-needed rain. The heat didn’t abate either. Nearly six weeks of hot sunny weather forced many to the lakes in search of a way to cool off. The spider lines of hoses are still interspersed through the gardens. It’s only this week, that the temperatures have slipped from hot to cold as a new front is settling in. A mass of cold weather being forced south from Greenland made light work of the hot gush of weather that has been flowing north off the continent for the last six weeks. The 27 Celsius degree days rather abruptly fell to morning lows of 11 c and daytime highs of 17 c. Crikey! I’m in my thermals again!!!

I’ve made a ton of headway in getting our garden looking pretty good. Realizing some plants and bushes would be happier off in different situations of sun exposure was a project made much simpler due to all the free spaces created by the recently departed and binned items. Some things just work out for the best in the end. 🙂

With the threat of rain not an issue, Pekka decided it was time to get the house repainted. Technically we’re staining, not painting, but it’s the same thing…well nearly… It’s been 10 years since the siding has seen a paintbrush, and it was much-needed. Starting off on the front, it’s an area we can reach ground to roofline with aid of a simple step-ladder. Reaching to the roofline on the sides and back of the house is more difficult due to the ground level sloping dramatically. I took the lower levels and stained from bottom to as high as I could reach. Pekka worked from there to the top, or as high as he could reach with the ladders we have.

There’s quite a large portion out of reach for us, and we’ll need to acquire scaffolding to complete the rest of the project. I’m using the same 120 mm wide brush (4.7 inches) I used the last time, well technically the first time we painted/stained!! Pekka for whatever reason insisted upon using a 50 mm (2 inches) trim brush. I found using the big brush got plenty of stain on the boards and covered more wood in less time. To each their own. House is looking better, even if a bit blotchy at the moment. Will be rectified eventually.

Aside from all of that business, a few trickles of rainwater from fast moving storms, this week are slowing down the great progress I had been making outside. Dodging raindrops is much more urgent when it’s 14 c rather than 28 c. From chilling to somewhat refreshing…seems we cannot find a happy medium. Dare I say, I think I’d rather have the warmer temps back, please! No sense really complaining, just telling you how it is. :=)

To our Finnish friends, I’d like to suggest to you a lovely Azalea cultivar named, ‘Aamurusko’ – wow this is not only a gorgeous and very colorful Azalea, but the fragrance is a knockout! I don’t remember where we got ours, but its coloring is similar to ‘Mandarin Nights/Lights’. None of our other Azaleas put forth as much fragrance as the ‘Aamurusko’ – If you were looking to add an azalea to your garden, I highly recommend this one! It’s possible this cultivar is available only within the EU.

The Gem Garden is putting on height by the day, and some of the early flowering plants are already in bloom. Hardy Geraniums, Columbine, Irises like Sibtosa Queen and Ginger Twist are already flowering away. The tall stand of Siberian Irises near the water garden are fully recovered from the vole damage from a couple winters ago. And a cloud of ground-hugging Phlox is delightful along the edge of this bed.

Peony buds from plants throughout the garden are fattened up and just about ready to burst. All seven of the peony seedlings we purchased from open garden day plant sales last year survived winter unscathed. Amazing considering how small a couple of them were when I put them in their places. I love peonies!! Do you love them too?

And not to be outdone, there are several roses in flower! Wasagaming, Bugnets, Scarlet Pavement to name a few.

Perennials are defying the odds and somehow managing to survive through the conditions of drought, heat, cold, and the few torrential storms so far this year. I can’t wait for them to start flowering, which will likely be soon! Probably in the next post 🙂 !!

We’ll be heading to Loviisa to view open gardens participating in this year’s Finnish Avoiment Puutarha on 16.06. It was fun going to Espoo a couple of weeks ago to the Kevätmarkkinat (Spring market). The new peonies we picked up are getting well-established in their places. It was exciting to see and talk with a couple of the other vendors. We also purchased a couple of new roses, which are native to the Nordics. But despite even this level of cold hardiness, the vendor told us several of his specimens had to be cut nearly to the ground due to die back from damage suffered this past winter. While it’s reassuring to learn our winter damages aren’t an isolated incident due to something we’ve done wrong, it’s also a real shame to know so many other gardeners are also experiencing severe damages due to the climate. There aren’t any guarantees in gardening, and every season poses challenges. I will be focusing towards maintaining what we have and working with those plant specimens which have proven themselves in our garden to be reliable— Stick with what is working, and wait for the remaining items to either learn quickly to adapt or be winnowed out to eventually find the bin. Sad, but that’s the way things stand.

Hoping things in your garden are performing as they should and your gardening troubles and disappointment are few!

Thank you for stopping by and until next time ❤