Midwinter solstice

Two pictures from yesterday - the shortest day of the year. From now we will look forward to the sun coming back and the days being longer again!

I have two camellias and they developed one flower bud each in the autumn when they were still outside. When it was too cold I took them inside, and in late November one of them burst, the other one fell off.

 

The weather has been really up and down, up and down. The snow has come and gone so many times I can't count them. One day is snowy and cold, the next day is warm and rainy. One result of that is that the roads are slippery like glass!

And for a couple of weeks we have had reindeers around the house. I live in constant fear that they come in the garden... But my bonsai trees are pretty well protected behind the fence!

Last day of october!

October: nature is preparing for winter. All leaves have dropped.

 My outdoor trees are in the ground for the winter. Here you can see the great improvement since last winter: how we have fenced in the bonsai with a high metal net! To stop the moose from climbing over and on the small trees. I hope it will keep the stupid animals out!

It was actually my husbands idea, so I must thank him for that. And even more, I should thank my son and his friend, that did all the hard work!

Maples and elms are in the garage, have been there for about two weeks now. Not all leaves had dropped before I took them inside, but they will fall on the floor...

 And in the house my indoor trees keep on growing. This one needs a lot of shaping and wiring. I hope to have time in the spring to work on all trees that I have neglected this year during my studying.

Here is a flower I got as a present this summer. It's sold under the name holarrhena pubescens "Snowflake". But when I tried to read about it, I found some confusing data... So maybe this is instead a  Wrightia antidysenterica?

Anyway, the name doesn't matter to me, it has beautiful little white flowers, and who knows - maybe it's possible to make a bonsai out of this plant?

I also want to say I am happy to see that people visit my blog even when I don't post so often! I had the intention to post at least once every month, but obviously I missed September - and almost October too...

Gotland: a lot of other botanic experiences

The mild climate on Gotland makes it possible to grow a lot of trees from warmer countries and climates. Here are some that I found interesting to see: (because I don't normally see them)

In the botanic garden in Visby - a zelkova tree!

Also in the botanic garden - a japanese magnolia, the seeds.

By the city wall: mulberry!

Over my head on some cafe: some kind of walnut...

In the forest: clematis vitalba.

Now I am getting less certain of the species, but this must be a laburnum with seeds.

And on these two last pictures I don't know at all what it is!  Maybe somebody can tell me.

Gotland: pines

I love the bent and curved pines on Gotland. Lovely inspiration!

Here the pine is actually growing like a carpet on the ground. I had never seen that before.

This one, in front of the wall: an umbrella bonsai!

Gotland: Ivy

I have just come home from a vacation week on Gotland in the south of Sweden. It has a totally different climate from ours here in the north!

 Above is my ivy bonsai. Not very big!

 Ivy is a sign plant of Gotland. My little specimen, kept indoors all year, never has any flowers but this week I got to see the ivy flowers - or at least flower buds:

Ivy was growing over all kinds of trees, walls, houses and ruins:

Here it is on a dead spruce.

- Here on a pine, the pine's branches sticking out.

It makes a really fascinating "weave"  around trunks and on whatever it is growing over!

Bonsai in the old stable

In the village close to where I live is a happening once every summer called "Speaking-in-the-mill-day". It is music and entertainment in an old mill, and usually some small art exhibition in the stable beside. This year it was bonsai instead of paintings in the stable. As you can see the walls are partly old and partly new, painted white, and they make a very nice backgound for bonsai!

I brought the trees that looked "the least bad" at the moment. I got compliments from surprised villagers that have never seen bonsai at all... And then there was one plant rights defender, a person that feels sorry for the poor bent trees and want to liberate them and take them back into the forest. I thought we had "informed away" those opinions by now, but obviously not!

Ficus nerifolia or ficus sikkimensis

Once I wrote about a ficus with narrow leaves, ficus nerifolia. I got a cutting of the species from a bonsai friend, and tried to root it. "I have had luck with many species before" I said, and was confident. For example I once rooted a podocarpus, which is a conifer and should therefore be difficult to root. OK. But this ficus I did not have success with, it just withered. Instead my friend proved to be a better gardener than me and had success (but she says it took long time) - and rooted a new cutting that she gave to me! This plant is still very small and thin. Now suddenly it has got these interesting small flowers or fruits! They are just a few millimeters in size, and look like small lemons. Interesting to see what will become of them!

This species is difficult to get to buy in Sweden. My friend bought her plant from Beck Bonsai, Germany.
They call it ficus sikkimensis. I don't know if there is a difference, but I am happy as long as it is a ficus with narrow leaves.

(The podocarpus died later, but I promise it had a lot of roots when it died. I think it died from bad care from its owner. Me that is.)

Short notes from this summer (for the future)

 Notes from the summer -2013:

It has been warm and sunny so far. Flowers and everything has come much earlier than what is normal.

Many of my pines had big brown parts in the needles. I don't know the reason for this, first I thought I had been too late with taking them up from the ground, but when I checked it was the same time as last year and in fact as every year. (Or OK, almost every year, for in 2010 I had it all done in may...) But maybe the very hot beginning of summer made them dry.