romantic

Happy midsummer!

~ Eva the Gardener ~ Leave a comment

After a beautiful spring with really too hot a weather for Swedish spring (25 to 30 degrees Celsius) we have reached midsummer, the old viking tradition still going strong in Sweden. The day when summer is at its peak, when the night is never really there because the sun nearly does not go down under the horizon (in the north of Sweden it actually NEVER goes down, it just turns and go up again).

About the weather … it has now changed to a more ordinary rainy day, in fact it is raining and raining and raining – day and night. Hm, I wonder what the midsummer celebrations today will be like. Usually we sing and dance around the midsummer pole and enjoy the company of our friends and neighbours. Anyway, with this midsummer bouquet of flowers I wish you all a happy midsummer 🙂

dav

 

Bench for contemplating

~ Eva the Gardener ~ 1 Comment

For my inner eye, I could see this special bench long before it was built. The 80 year old pear tree… Hexagonal bench… View towards the lake… Cup of coffee in my hand… Summer leaves trembling in the faint breeze above my head… YES, this bench was a MUST.

dav

And one day the opportunity was there. A friends husband do carpenter work as a hobby, and today the whole family came over to build my dream bench.

dav

 

dav

dav

Really, P was super professional! He started out in the gloomy noon, with the rain hanging in the air.

dav

One afternoon later  the sun was shining and the bench was there.

dav

And of course we celebrated with a  Swedish “fika”! Coffee and homemade blackcurrants pie, a taste of summer 🙂

dav

Now the finishing job is mine: to paint the bench. But until then, I enjoy the view of it. I have a feeling this will be a favourite place of mine! And if you are inspired and want a bench of your own, P told me he would love to go to another country and build his special bench there (“Spain would be wonderful,” said the Swedish hobby carpenter).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What better way …

~ Eva the Gardener ~ Leave a comment

… to start spring than enjoying the Heart for the World!

IMG_1374

It was a year ago that I started to build and create the Heart for the World, a flower bed in the form of a heart, filled with different kinds of tulips.

IMG_1381

IMG_1378

IMG_1377

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The heart is placed on the slope from our house, which is situated on a small hill. To cover the soil beneath the tulips, I planted lots and lots of strawberries, so when the tulips are out it is time to taste the first berries.

Below you can see what it looked like when newly digged.

IMG_0392

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer bouquet

~ Eva the Gardener ~ Leave a comment

When in town lately, I couldn’t resist the flower market and ended up buying a bunch of corn flowers. For my inner eye I could see them together with the different kinds of grass growing in our lawn.

IMG_0871

So the next morning I went out with a scissors and picked long stems of different grass IMG_0865and arranged them with the corn flowers in two decorated glass bowls. IMG_0874

 

 

 

 

IMG_0861

 

Always nice to make two, there is often an opportunity to give away one as a gift to someone dear.

IMG_0866

 

 

 

 

Simple but delicate ingredients make a romantic presentation.

IMG_0875