Mosaic Monday

Hello, all! I hope you have had a joyful Easter!

In my first mosaic, there are still some photos of the Spring Fair.  Among the cut flowers for sale, there were especially tulips and roses. You can also see the pretty hellebore and some of the lavenders I bought... and my new walking length umbrella! :) The rain had been predicted for the weekend and I had a light folding umbrella with me. I happened to notice these  -  and wasn't unhappy at all that it was raining when we left the Exhibition Centre. The colour is not the best, but I like the tulip print and the large size. 

This is my Easter mosaic. For us, the colours of Easter are yellow and light green, with some other cheerful colours added.

Joining Judith

for

Mosaic Monday # 35!

Thank you for visiting! Have a happy week ahead!

Kevätpuutarha - Spring Garden 2015, part 2

Click to enlarge!

The Zantedeschia above was one of my favourites at the garden show in Helsinki. - There were many kinds of bulbs for sale.  

Lavender plants were available at many booths (I bought some, just in case my sowing wouldn't be successful!), as well as other flowers in my favourite colours:

Plantagen

Prunus incisa 'Kojo-no-mai' is good choice for small gardens, but only in the warmest climate zone here in Finland:

C-Design

There were displays of pavers...

HB-Betoni

... and seeds for sale:

Puutarhanikkarit

Nelson Garden

Hyötykasviyhdistys

Flowering plants in lovely colours...

Puketti

... and ready-made arrangements:

There will be a third set of garden show photos, after some days, but in my next post I will answer Tiina's Liebster Award questions.  (The first photos can be seen here.)

Puutarhamessukuvia on tulossa vielä lisää, mutta seuraavassa postauksessa vastaan vihdoinkin Tiinan Liebster Award -kysymyksiin! :)

Happy...

Wednesday around the World!

Kevätpuutarha - Spring Garden 2015, part 1

The annual Spring Fair was held at the Messukeskus Exhibition & Convention Centre in Helsinki from Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th. I was able to visit the Fair only on Saturday, which was probably the most crowded day. It would have been lovely to have more time at disposal, because there were many interesting displays and booths. (I did miss some, unfortunately...)

As you all know, taking photos in crowded locations is not easy. I will share the best shots I got without invading anyone's privacy.  In this post, there are photos of the four display gardens, planned for different kinds of families and locations by the garden designer and horticulturist Eva Wuite.

1. A little bit surprisingly, "the modern garden" was also my favourite, as it was of many others. It could be the garden of an urban couple that appreciates minimalist design.

A Quercus palustris, swamp Spanish oak, grown as espalier. It's said to be one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks due to its ease of transplant, relatively fast growth, and pollution tolerance. The word espalier brought to my mind the Italian word spalliera and the vine training. This image makes me remember some interesting views in Southern Italy, where the practice of training vines a tendone  is used.

2. In a garden for a family with small children, there are flower beds and a safe playground. There were indeed kids enjoying the playing area of this garden...

There were cheerful splashes of colour:

3. A garden is beautiful when it is in harmony with its surroundings and the architecture of the house. One of the gardens was for a country house, perhaps a log cabin, surrounded by coniferous woodland. Reflecting the busy lifestyle of its owners, this garden is very easy to maintain.

4. The fourth garden could belong to a DIY family that lives in a traditional, wooden house, loves the romantic atmosphere of a cottage garden and enjoys growing herbs and vegetables:

That's all for now. In the next post there will be... more flowers!

Taking photos

Now the temperatures are what they should be in March, clearly below zero centigrade at night and pleasantly warm during the day.  The days are very bright, and photographywise the lighting is almost too harsh, at least to my taste. I love mornings and evenings, and yes, summer nights, too. In late winter, I find evenings especially magical. Do you know how the snow smells when its surface is melting during the day and refreezing at night?

In the morning photo below, the blue background is unfocused snow, not the sky:

Pussy willows grow close to the water.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur..."

Since my recent, daylight photos are a little bit boring, I edited them for my mosaic. :) You can see I have already found some snowless spots near our home, especially under the trees!

The "mosaic tiles" are rather small, and that's why I wanted to add two of my favourite ones a little bit bigger:

Linking up with Judith

for

Mosaic Monday!

Have a lovely week!

PS Two weeks from today, I probably will not be able to participate in Mosaic Monday. The days start to be more hectic, when spring advances, and during the weekend I will visit our capital city.

The annual Spring Fair will be held at the Messukeskus Exhibition & Convention Centre in Helsinki from Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th March. What interests me most is of course the Spring Garden Fair, but there will be areas dedicated also to home-building and renovating, second homes, interior decoration, as well as organic and locally produced food.  The displays are, unfortunately, arranged indoors (the climate!), but I will try to take as good pictures as I possibly can and to prepare some nice posts in the following week.

Source: Messukeskus Mediabank