Garden siteseeing in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany
Welcome to another of our weekly jaunts to drop in on gardeners in other places. Today we're in Europe, where we'll shiver a bit at the falling nighttime temperatures, admire some Japanese vegetables being frown far from home, save some columbine seeds, and get some ideas on landscaping with ornamental grasses and stone.
In Helsinki, Finland, Sammakko, the Japanese half of a Finnish-Japanese couple, writes in her blog, Kasvimaalla, of the end of the growing season (they've already had a killing frost) and the efforts to save a few container plants by taking them indoors at night. (Don't worry, there's English just below the Finnish text.)
She's also drying signet marigolds for use in stews, salads, and pasta. They have a lemony flavor, she says. In the winter she's likely to take on growing bean sprouts (in a bottle) and Belgian endive in the cellar.
Tyra's Garden is in Waxholm, Sweden, on the island of Resarö, outside Stockholm. Tyra is an enthusiastic amateur gardener and photographer. In the US, we would call her style of growing edible gardening -- mostly edibles but with plenty of flowers and charmingly arranged.
She hasn't had frost yet, but the nights are getting cooler, and so she’s planning to dig the dahlia tubers. A tip that's handy for all of us with tubers, corms, and summer bulbs to dig this autumn: Tag the plants with their names (and colors) before frost and then you’ll have ID labels for the tubers as you store them.
I like that because you get a such a sinking feeling when you start to sort through them the next spring and realize you don’t know what all of them are.
If you admire that pretty little white-framed greenhouse on the site, you can also read about activities going on inside it, too, in the Greenhouse in Tyra's Garden.
Abenteuer Garten is located in a small village near Basel, Switzerland. Its owner loves roses, peonies, hostas, hellebores, and many other plants. Right away, we leave Switzerland and join her for a visit to Bavaria in Germany. Among the garden sights, don't miss the statue carved from a dead tree.
The everyday posts are about things that will be familiar to gardeners everywhere: buying a bargain mystery shrub and then finding out what it was the next year when it bloomed, the joy of receiving a gift of heirloom plants, and the fruit ripening on the Cornelian cherry (but not enough to cook with).
When you arrive at Elisabeth's Garden in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the first thing you'll want to do is scroll down and look for the Google Translate box down on the left. (It was two clicks of the mouse for me.)
Once you've clicked English (or whatever language you prefer), you can enjoy more than just the photos of crafts and gardens.
Doing a little garden sightseeing along with our siteseeing, we pay two visits to Maikammer iin Rhineland-Palatinate. One to a crowded garden fair and back again for a more leisurely garden stroll.
Had you ever thought of planting hydrangeas and ornamental grasses together? It turns out to be an interesting combination. (Actually, there are grasses next to the vegetable garden, too, which is another unusual touch.)
You'll also admire all the stonework of this terraced garden. (Or, at least, I did. I love stonework!)
Tausend Dank, Lis. And a thousand thanks to all of you for tagging along on our garden siteseeing journey to Europe this week. Where will we be next Thursday? Come back to find out.
