Spring-winter

 Views change around my house from day to day depending on the weather. Also my trees are beginning to change - to show signs of life. I mean my garage trees.

 My maples had a hard time last summer and were frozen when we had a really cold night in June. Yes I did write about it here. The three maples are now 1) one super-tree, picture above - leaves sprouting out, 2) one hesitating, I can see only a few leaves but think it will live, and 3) one that does not show any signs of life at all yet.

The vigorous tree in the picture is the one that was most severely damaged by rats. It is obviously a superhero.

The outdoor trees are still asleep under the snow, you recognize the winter storing place here under the spruce.

Zooming out, this is he gloomy view of Wednesday afternoon.

Same view, thursday morning! On a day like this, if feels possible to get out of bed.

Still Thursday morning, a bit more to the west. All trees have branches covered in snow!

Finally today, Friday. It was so warm during the day yesterday that the snow melted from the trees. (To the right in the picture are the same spruces as in the previous picture.) From one day to another it changes from looking like mid-winter to looking like spring!

Kan man använda vide som bonsai?

July: The mosquitoes have come, it's difficult to be outside, I hate it.

The picture above is some sort of  a willow. Maybe it's not a perfect tree for bonsai, but guess what. I have discovered that there are hardly no perfect trees for bonsai. There are trees that work well for some people, but not for somebody else. There are trees that work well in one climate, but not in another.

For example, this willow has the negative characteristic that some branches always die in winter. (People usually say that about birch, but it isn't true for my birch!)

In return, the willow can stand the temperatures of this north Swedish climate, because it is totally native! It is now green and fresh.

Here is the opposite:

- My japanese maples. They were so green and vital in spring when I had them inside the house. They had survived the rat-attac and started to grow vigorously. Then  I took them outside, and carried them inside every evening - until I decided summer had come and didn't want to carry pots in any more. Maybe we had summer according to the calender, but the temperature dropped to below zero one night and the leaves were destroyed on these trees. They probably think autumn has come and will not produce any new leaves this year ??? Except for these small reddish ones you can see...

So these maples may be perfect for bonsai - but not for me.

Green and brown needles

The snow is gone and I can see my outdoor trees again after the winter! The majority looks good.

But two of the pines are all brown, or should I say "rusty". I think they are dead and I will have to throw them away. I can not be sure of the cause, but I believe it is a pine-desease - I should probably worry for the rest of the pines (?)...

The large aspen behind our house is full of flowers! 

I have learned this about aspen: each tree is either male or female, both male and female trees produce catkins - and they look a little different. According to my flora-book the female catkins are 10-18 cm and male catkins 8-10 cm.

But it's impossible to see the size of the catkins when they are so high up in the air! 

Then there is still one thing I don't know. Must the tree reach a certain age before it starts flowering? For I can't remember having seen this tree flowering before. Or I have forgotten. (Does it happen one year now and then? - and not the years between?) The other aspen tree behind our house does not have any catkins - maybe because it's younger???

One other thing I have read about aspens is that they form "clones" - many trees growing from the same root system - genetically identical. Here is one,  for a bonsai enthusiast very interesting, aspen clone I walked by yesterday: heavily grazed by moose to shape these dwarfed trees!

I must go back to this place for yamadori...

My semi-hardy trees can come out in the sun now and then. The nights are still very cold (this night was -6 degrees C).

Here is seen zelkovas and japanese maples.

I have taken inside some trees from the garage

Spring is coming along.

Not if you look out through the window of course, but in my garage the trees are beginning to become green! I have repotted some zelkovas.

And this lively bush...it is the maple that was debarked by rodents in autumn. It's now growing vividly! Don't tell me it will never look good, I am so happy it's alive. It has survived rodent attack twice in its life!

I have also repotted a ficus natasja that I had not cared for very much before. Picture above is today, picture below is before repotting.

Cancelled meeting

To meet with friends that share your interest is nice, for example in a bonsai association! When I go to bonsai meetings it is in Umeå, and it was meant to be today, the first meeting this year. The weather stopped us again! (The cold temperature stopped us in February 2012.) Today it is not particularly cold but it's snowing, and has been snowing all night - together with strong winds it makes roads and streets difficult for traffic... At first I planned to go anyway ("nothing will stop me this time"), and my husband went out to clear the way down from the house - then my bonsai friend called and told me the weather was too bad also in Umeå.

Instead I have repotted a maple that was beginning to grow, see first picture: you can see a few small leaves coming out! It is the tree that was attacked by rodents in the autumn - I can just hope it will survive, but I really don't know.

Snowdrifts up the windows...

Northern Arboretum

For years I have planned to go and see the "Northern arboretum" in Umeå, it is only eighty kilometers from here. Finally I have been there now! I was there on Tuesday together with my husband, one son and another young boy. If I had been alone there maybe I had stayed all day, reading signs of the different trees and taking pictures... Now we more or less walked right through.

The arboretum is like a planted forest with trees from Europe, Asia, North America and Japan.

I flera år har jag tänkt fara och titta på ett ställe som heter Arboretum Norr som ligger i Umeå, verkligen inte långt härifrån.  Nu har det till slut blivit av! I tisdags åkte jag dit tillsammans med make och två ungdomar.

Hade jag varit där ensam så hade jag kanske stått och läst varenda artskylt och försökt fota skogsbilder... Antagligen skulle jag ha stannat en hel dag då. Nu gick vi mer eller mindre bara rakt igenom.

Arboretet är som en planterad skog med trädsorter från Europa, Amerika och Asien inklusive Japan.

Then when I saw a birch with cones I remembered to take out the camera! For what is this, it really looks a lot like small cones? The name of the tree is Kamtjatka-birch (Betula Ermanii). I searched the tree in a flora and found it is supposed to have "catkins".

När jag fick se en björk med kottar kom jag i alla fall på att ta fram kameran. För visst ser det ut som kottar?! Trädet heter Kamtjatkabjörk (Betula ermanii). I en flora läste jag att den skulle ha "catkins", jag trodde det betydde videkissar?

Up-catkins and down-catkins?

Både kottar och hängen på samma kvist. Eller kissar och hängen då?

One more picture from the Arboretum: a nice "Rhododendron brachycarpum". Beautiful - but what is this compared to the azalea valley I visited last year?...

En fujirododendron (Rhododendrum brachycarpum) kom också med på bild. Men vad är denna buske jämfört med azaleaskogen jag var i ifjol?...

 The weather has been very odd this year. First we had a warm spring and everything happened too early and too quick. Then it changed into cold temperatures - and this night we had frost... In this part of the world you can expect night-frost in the beginning of June and then again in the end of August - but not now - this is supposed to be the warmest time of year!

 Vi har haft en konstig vår i år. Först kom allting jättetidigt och hände för fort, och det var hur varmt som helst. Sedan blev det kallt. Midsommarafton satt vi inomhus medan det regnade och haglade utanför. Inatt hade vi minusgrader ute. Så kan det vara med vädret.

***

 I have done yamadori in my garden and found a cotoneaster, three apples and a "tatarian maple" (Acer tataricum). A small substitute for the trees that died last winter...

 Jag kan slutligen berätta att jag gjort lite yamadori i trädgården. Kanske för att kompensera för de träd som dött i vintras? Yamadori i trädgården kan man göra om man några år tidigare planterat någonting där som går att gräva upp... Jag har grävt upp tre äppelträd (från kärnor som jag satt) en cotoneaster och en rysk lönn (Acer tataricum).

Above is the tatarian maple. I have also a big specimen in the garden, which is flowering at this time, below:

Ovan den ryska lönnen, nedan en stor buske av samma sort, som jag har i trädgården, och den blommar just nu:

Ha en skön sommar, hoppas de flesta har varmare än vi!

Green leaves

The pomegranate is green!

Granatäpplet har blivit grön.




Ulmus trees: now darker green.

Ulmusarna har blivit mörkare i färgen.





And the leaves on my acers: I love them.

Jag älskar även bladen på mina japanska lönnar.

Repotting day three

I have been repotting again. I use papers with vinegar to clean the edges of the pot!


Min andra lediga dag I RAD. (Jobbar i helgen i stället!) Idag har jag jordat ner i köket igen och planterat om flera inomhusväxter.

Medan jag klipper på rötterna får krukan ligga under ättiksindränkta papper så att de hårda avlagringarna på krukkanten löser upp sig. Det fungerar jättebra!




This ficus with variegated leaves is too big and overgrown right now, I will cut it later when it is established in the pot. It is a slow growing sort.

Jag har en fikus med vitstrimmiga blad. Den är förskräckligt stor och överväxt just nu, men får nog vara så ett tag till så den rotar sig bra innan jag klipper i den. Den är ganska långsamväxande.



My elm, the soil was dry today, perfect for repotting.

Elegantissiman var också lagom torr för att planteras om idag.




This is a ficus which originally had ugly grafted branches, so I decided to take them away and try to make new branches.


Här är en förskräcklig bild på en förskräcklig fikus som kanske kan bli något i framtiden? Stammen är åtminstone tjock. Den hade påympade grenar (av en småbladig sort) som jag tog bort, för de var inte snygga, och nu är det dess egna grenar som håller på och växer ut.



Japanese maple.

Den tidigaste japanska lönnen är alldeles grön.




I have not been experimenting with the bark on this tiny plant! Rats did it in the winter two years ago, and I think the tree was fantastic to survive!


Om man tittar närmare på stammen så syns det att den varit halvt avbarkad för två år sedan. Det är inte jag som experimenterat med något ingrepp för att få någon häftig effekt på denna unga trädpinne, utan råttor (OK möss kanske men det låter värre med råttor för möss är ju så söta) som var inne i garaget på vintern och åt bark på allt möjligt som de hittade där! Den här lönnen hade bara kvar en smal strimma av bark på ena sidan och jag tycker den var fantastisk som överlevde!