I won the second round

Last year the lily bugs harmed my lilies quite badly. This year I managed to destroy the bugs early on and now the tiger lilies are higher than me and flowe like never before. The lilies where here when we bought the place, I just moved them to the flower beds every time I created one. And now they are everywhere and I just love them!

Don't keep me in the dark

At last it is dark enough to have lights in the garden. Our Ikea lamp looks beautiful in the evenings. It lights up by itself when the evening darkens and closes down when it is light enough.

World of wonders

This was a perfect summer for rhubarbs. They just grew and grew. I would have let them be but then there was a storm warning and I thought that the big leaves wouldn't survive the wind and heavy rain and so I cut the things down. My husband took a final photo of the rhubarbs when I (185 cm tall) was carrying them to the compost heap.

Coffee break

What to do with your old copper coffee pots when you don't have room for them in the kitchen? Well, you line the perennial borders with them, of course. I plan to store the pots inside for winter but I guess they would manage outside, too (providing my husband won't distroy them with his snow blower - he managed to cut a bit from our stairs with the thing so this is a real problem).

Just shut your eyes

These photos are not for a mimimalist. I used to be one but in the garden (and even in the house) there are now colours and lots and lots of flowers and ornaments. So no more black, gray and white for me.

I think I said a couple of weeks ago that the garden is at its best (at peony time) but I have to take my words back: the garden is at its best right now! On the other hand, I am still waiting for the tiger lilies to flower so the best time for the garden might be tomorrow...

Summer evenings

The garden is at it's very best after some rain. This July has been perfect for a gardener: it is mostly sunny during the day and late in the evening / at night there are some rain showers, not too much but just enough. The tiger lilies are gigantic and most of the other plants are thriving, too.

Waiting for the rain

Just in case there will be heavy rain today, I picked a couple of peonies and brought them inside.

Summer lovin'

There are lots of pink, white and purple flowers in the garden right now. They look wonderfully romantic. In a little while there will again be a lot of yellow and orange to spice things a bit, but for now I enjoy the pastels.

Glory days

Finally the peonies and foxgloves flower, this is the moment I was waiting for!

Summer!

Even though it was rather cold when we woke up (10 degrees), I think it is finally safe to say it's summer.

Please wait

Our holiday starts after a week and the peonies are driving me crazy. I don't want them to flower during our work week! But what to do, the ones in the sunniest places are bursting into flower right now.

Now's the time

I don't usually pick flowers for inside use but as there was talk about storm today, I picked some lilies to have a few in case everything falls down due to wind and rain. Thankfully the peonies are still in bud so they should survive.

Just a minute

I am kind of hoping that by publishing these photos, we'll get an inspiration and the back yard will get a new look. We have been planning stairs, terraces and perennial borders, among other things. Well, at least the lilacs will be bigger...

Just for show

I pot my plants on a tarpaulin but it is fun to have a fake potting table in the garden. I had one at the cottage, too. It is a good place to store any surplus pots and vases as they are decorative even when empty.

Kneel down

I love woodland plants. The only trouble with them is that you have to go on to your knees to really appreciate the view.

Happy midsummer eve's eve!

The midsummer roses are at their very best right now - as they should be!

Not for seamstresses

We have a few old singer sewing machine tables in our garden. As my husband is a minimalist at heart, he wanted to take the things apart to make them appear a bit lighter. This means that there are several spear parts that look rather good on their own. The round ones are just perfect as garden stepping stones!

It runs in the family

My mum loved to decorate, both at home and in the garden. I am just like her and all her decorations are in use in my home and garden. A case in point are three metal ampels that mum used to have flowers in. As it is really windy in Vårkulla I decided to decorate the ampels with mum's little metal birds and some of the fake chrystals that used to hang in her living room ceiling light.

If you have nothing to do

We happy garden owners always have lots to do. Today we did a general clean up in the garden and everything looks rather great.

And even some of the parts of the yard where we haven't yet done any gardening look great, too.

Busy month

Everything happens at once. First it was really cold and nothing grew. Now it's too hot to be in the garden and everything flowers at the same time. This is the time I worry there will be nothing left in August but there always is, of course.