Dreaming of spring

Täällä on edelleen puolisen metriä lunta eikä kylvöissäkään ole vielä kuvaamista, joten postaan joitakin kukkakuvia edellisvuosilta. Viimeiset kaksi kuvaa on otettu muutama päivä sitten (Pohjois-)Italiassa.

Muistiinpanojani selaillessani huomasin, että vuonna 2014 haravoin pihateitä ja siivosin lupiinipenkkejä maaliskuun puolivälissä. Niin, sinä keväänä suunnittelin puutarhablogia ja tein ensimmäisiä postauksia. Aikainen kevät huijasi uskomaan, että puutarhakausi voisi alkaa täälläkin jo maaliskuussa. :)

Tämä postaus oli tarkoitettu alkuviikolle, mutta se jäi liito-oravan alle. :) Nyt onkin jo aika toivottaa Hyvää viikonloppua!

Dreaming of spring, dreaming of summer... At the moment, there are flowers only inside the home. In June, the area behind our garage will look like this...

... but now it looks like this (snow pushed down from the roof):

Two years ago some potted tulips were blooming indoors in the middle of March. 'Mount Tacoma' was pretty (more photos for example here), but I didn't like the smell...

Tulipa 'Mount Tacoma'

... and so last year I tried something else. In this post (and it's one of my favourite posts!), you can also see how these 'Sweet Desire' tulips were supposed to look:

Tulipa 'Sweet Desire'

In Finnish, he sings "ti-ti-tyy".

This was my favourite hellebore, one of the victims of the harsh January 2016:

Helleborus orientalis 'Pretty Ellen'

In Italy, hellebores are now blooming in our garden...

I greet you with this early bloomer (a Prunus?), photographed early in the morning, in Italy. :)

I was planning a post especially for Five on Friday, hosted for the last time by Amy of Love Made My Home, but had some schedule issues. Since there are photos of five genera (Kalanchoe, Lupinus, Tulipa, Helleborus, and Prunus), I decided to participate with this post. :)

Thank you, Amy, for hosting. Five on Friday has been great fun.

♥

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Our new bird feeder and other stuff

1. On Sunday morning, I was enjoying my coffee, croissant and newspaper when I heard someone knocking on the front door. There were some Great Tits, one of them pecking at one of the flower pots. Right, it's time to hang the bird feeder! Here it is. According to the tweets, it became immediately very popular. More photos coming soon.

2. Yes, autumn is closing in - and it's so pretty.

3. I love browsing catalogues... you know, those old-fashioned, printed ones. In autumn they look especially attractive. This is where my son buys his shirts:

4. The correspondent of My Woodland Garden in Italy has sent some photos. The sunrises are beautiful there too. Plus soon you can grow your own olives in Northern Italy as well. :)

Crataegus azarolus

5. ♫ Christmas Eve is coming soon ♫... and the first pair of woollen socks is getting ready. I make mainly rather simple ones, while watching TV.

Sharing with Amy's Five on Friday

and wishing you all a great weekend!

♥

EDIT: I just had to add two more images. First: The October issue of one of my favourite garden magazines is particularly beautiful. Thank you, Kotipuutarha!

Second: The Windows 10 lock screen image was today particularly beautiful as well. The Temple of Saturn is one of the most fascinating sites I know. Thank you, Microsoft! :)

Photo: Marco Romani - Getty Images

Mums and a miniature

Aren't the pink Chrysanthemums pretty?!

Among other things, I'm also a mum maniac. :)

Today I want to participate in Amy's Five on Friday...

and it was really difficult to choose only five photos.

Other colours coming in the next post...

First this post was only about Chrysanthemums, but then I had to add also something else:

A dear blogger friend Muusa posted recently some enchanting roofscapes from Tallinn, Estonia.  I have always loved her miniature scenes and this time I just had to try to create some myself. I don't have many (landscape) shots taken at a high angle to the ground, but I chose some photos from my last year's trip to Northern Italy and did my first experiments. :)

By the way, Muusa's boards and pins are definitely among the most interesting and beautiful I have found on Pinterest.

Now, enjoy my first mini (I think this one succeeded best )... and have a lovely weekend! xxx

♫ ... and the livin' is easy... ♪

Have a lovely weekend!

Five on Friday

Happy May!

With these cheerful photos, I wish you a beautiful new month... and a happy First of May. It might be snowing, but on that day we in Finland celebrate spring. :)

Huhtikuun kuukausikollaasini on postauksen lopussa. Iloista vappua!

These photos were taken in Italy.

Five on Friday

Huhtikuun kollaasissa näkyy jo hieman kevään merkkejä. Kuukauden suosituimman postauksen
sankari oli veikeä orava, joka käy keikuttamassa lintulaudalta siemenet ja pähkinät maahan. Joistakin kuvista tuli aika hauskoja, kun oravaa tuntui kamera (?) kiinnostavan suuresti.

Pieni Lintu -blogista löytyy lisää kuukausikollaaseja.

Ihanaa toukokuuta!

Am I not cute?

This little squirrel was rocking, once more, the bird feeder. (Changes planned for the next winter.) I went to tell her, once more, that it's not OK. Instead of escaping immediately, she looked almost as curious about me (or about the camera) as I was about her.

Thoughts of Home on Thursday

Five on Friday

Saturday's Critters

Seasons

And, of course,

Mosaic Monday,

from now on a monthly gathering

on the last Monday of each month.

Thank you to all the hosts!

Five glimpses and a rose

Participating in Five on Friday

with this brief look at my week...

Ribes glandulosum

... and wishing you a happy weekend!

Me and you, And you and me...

I photographed this couple of whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) about a year ago near our home. This year I haven't seen them yet even though I have heard their fascinating calls already several times. They have been flying around, but didn't land, since there's no open water yet.

The whooper swan is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan. They pair for life.

Sharing with Five on Friday, Saturday's Critters, and I'd Rather B Birdin'. Thank you to all the hosts!

Happy weekend!