Welcome to Villa Emilia (My Woodland Garden), a photography blog with a slant towards gardening and nature. An amateur gardener and photographer, I hope to share beautiful moments with you through pictures. Let me know if you like them! ❤

Thank you for your visit.

29.3.2017

"Meanwhile in Finland" and other photos






We had some more snow yesterday...






Birds still appreciate our help.










"Transforming into pure light..." :)






When I was a child, I used to admire the clouds behind "our" lake and wish they were mountains. Well, then I moved to a beautiful area between the Alps and the Apennines.






However, every time I see dark clouds on the horizon, I entertain myself thinking they are mountains.









The pink clouds could be smoke from a volcano... :)






Other dreams: spring, in old photos.


















Have a great day!

Tänään avajaiset ja ensimmäiset lyhytohjelmat! :)






29 March - 2 April, www.helsinki2017.com/


26.3.2017

Towards April










































... and towards spring, we hope! Have a beautiful April!

Ihanan keväistä huhtikuuta!



"Mon Jardin 2006", by Akena. http://www.akenaitaly.it/tipologia/calendari.html





24.3.2017

Memories: A green town






One of my favourite places in Central Finland is Harju, “The Ridge”, a landscape park in the centre of Jyväskylä. Contrary to what the Finnish name suggests, Harju is not an esker. It's (a part of) a terminal moraine, formed during the retreating of the continental glacier about 11,000 years ago. The retreating stopped for about 100 years and Harju was formed of the debris pushed by the ice.

The photos of this post have been taken in May.






The City of Jyväskylä was founded in 1837. In 1887, according to a local history published online by the University of Jyväskylä, a wooden lookout tower (later put down, unfortunately) with a summer cafe was inaugurated at Harju. In 1890, the history tells, an international music festival was arranged. It must have been lovely! 



The old observation tower (1887–1939)
From Wikimedia Commons


Jyväskylässä parasta on Harju. :) Ihana keidas keskellä kaupunkia. Wikipedian mukaan Harjun maa-ainesta on käytetty kaupungin rakentamiseen ja 1940-luvulla esitettiin jopa koko Harjun poistamista ja sen hiekan siirtoa Jyväsjärven länsiosan täytteeksi. Voi hyvänen aika... onneksi ajatus ei toteutunut!






Jyväskylän Harju muodostui noin 11 000 vuotta sitten, kun mannerjään vetäytyessä ilmasto kylmeni joksikin aikaa ja jään reuna eteni uudelleen ns. Jyväskylän etenemisvaiheen aikana. ”Satakunta vuotta kestäneen tasapainovaiheen aikana sen [jään reunan] eteen syntyi Sisä-Suomen reunamuodostuma, jonka tunnetuimpia osia ovat Jyväskylän harju, Muuramen harju ja Hämeenkangas”, kirjoittavat Heikki Rainio ja Peter Johansson Marjatta Koiviston toimittamassa kauniissa ja mielenkiintoisessa kirjassa Jääkaudet, josta löytyy paljon tietoa aiheesta.

Mannerjään paksuuden ja painon kasvaessa sen pohjakerros muuttuu paineen ja maasta tulevan lämmön vaikutuksesta juoksevaksi. Jää alkaa virrata ja kuljettaa irtoavaa kiviainesta mukanaan. Jos jäätikön reuna pysyy pitkään melkein paikoillaan, kesällä reunan alta paljastuu moreenia, jota jäätikkö talvella kasaa eteensä valliksi. Samalla tavalla hieman aiemmin muodostuneet kolme Salpausselkää ovat ehkä Suomen tunnetuimmat geologiset kerrostumat. Mannerjäätikön reuna oli vetäytymässä, kun ilmasto nopeasti kylmeni noin 12 600 vuotta sitten. Tämä kylmä Nuorempi Dryas-kausi kesti noin tuhat vuotta. Kausi on saanut nimensä lapinvuokon (Dryas octopetala) mukaan. :)






Early summer is a wonderful season, even if the weather is grey. The towns look green...






One of the Neo-Renaissance buildings of the Seminaarinmäki Campus, University of Jyväskylä:






The City Church:






Have a wonderful weekend!

Ihanaa viikonloppua!






20.3.2017

Spring pastels: a girly post



Northern Italy, 19.3.2017



Eastern Finland, 20.3.2017 :)



Yllä näkymämme tänään aamupäivällä. Nyt iltapäivällä sade on lakannut. Tässä postauksessa on uusia ja vanhoja kuvia, jotka ilahduttavat minua tänään, toivottavasti myös sinua! :)



Tulipa 'Angelique', in June 2015



"Thinking pink" was the working title for this post, inspired by this month's cover of "Gloria", a Finnish women's magazine, but then I noticed that in the photos I wanted to post, there were many other colours too...






... like in these woollen socks. In March, they are still needed. :) I did have a pink trench coat, but alas I gave it away...






Some favourites:



ACO Daily Care -tuotteet -20% maaliskuun ajan monissa apteekeissa.
Kuvassa oleva puhdistusemulsio on suosikkini.



Vehicle Maintenance for Women: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask by Charlotte Williamson. :) Originally published in 2004: 






A pretty cup:






Rosa 'Lumo' in July 2015






I'm decluttering. I will post some images, texts, etc. that I have found beautiful, interesting, etc. in the past years. I will store them in a digital form... and then possibly discard the originals.

This pretty mini calendar (in Italian) will not be thrown away. (You will see more pages soon.) It's from the year 2006 and, as it happens, it's valid this year! And... hmmm... in 2023 I will be able to use it again. :)



"Mon Jardin 2006", by Akena. http://www.akenaitaly.it/tipologia/calendari.html












Do you like pastel colours?









18.3.2017

I left my heart at...






...Parco Burcina, a landscape garden in Piedmont region (Italy), founded in the mid-19th century by Giovanni Piacenza, a wool industrialist, and situated in the Municipalities of Biella and Pollone.

I must go back sometimes... to visit my heart and to take more and better photos. Oh, I wish I had had a digital camera when I was living in Italy!






We visited the park in May many years ago; that day it had been raining before we arrived and the air was fresh and fragrant with scents from the grand conifers of the park. The valley of rhododendrons is stunning. On the internet, you can find many photos (much, much better than these!) depicting the valley from above, but imagine yourself rambling among the shrubs, surrounded by all those colours...






By myself, I followed a path leading to the top of the hill. Noisy schoolchildren and other visitors were left far behind, and I found serene small meadows and young birches with leaves of the most delicate green.  

The colours and light  are particularly bad in the photo below, but it shows the position of the park on a hill.






We saw pleasant views also on our way back home. Oasi Zegna is a freely accessible nature park in the Biella Alps. It was created by the entrepreneur Ermenegildo Zegna, founder of the homonymous factory that makes men's clothing and accessories.









Some old photos taken in our garden (in Italy):












Awful colours, but dear memories:






One of my favourites, Azalea japonica 'Palestrina':