Aronia (chokeberry)

Aronia (chokeberry) is really beautiful and colorful right now. Sun is setting earlier and earlier each day.

From our yard

The yard that never stops giving. Gooseberries are ripening fast, red currants already mostly are nice and red, and the bush is heavy with them. I picked a couple liters of them today. The black currant bush in not making too much fruit, they often are a bit less fruitful than the red ones. Marigold is finally starting to bloom.

Those lovely flowers of Midsummer Eve

It's Midsummer's Eve. This year our Midsummer is actually quite close to the insentive of the fest, the longest day of the year. Today, the day is roughly 19 hours, giving us 5 hours of "night", most of it only semi-dark dusk. On June 21st the day si a few minutes longer and then it will start ot get shorter again. Of course, in Lapland they already are and will be for a couple months still, in the nightless nights time of the year.

Here in Finland we tend to joke that our summer is short but not very snowy, that while in bible they called 40 days and 40 nights of rain a disaster we call it summer, that the old snow doesn't even melt before the days start getting shorter again (actually, this is accurate in some parts of Lapland). In Helsinki, we don't have snow, but it has been raining again for days and the temperature is barely 13-15 degrees Celsius. Pretty darned cold. But then, even though we call June Kesäkuu (summer month) in Finnish, it rarely is warm in June.

Nature, however, is beautiful. Lush, green, with flowers blooming everywhere. Berries are said to be late this year, I guess they are, but everything in our yard indicates a good berry and apple year. The other apple tree is full of tiny apple starts and the cloudberry and red currant bushes are heavy with raw berries. Our oninions are growing nicely, as are radishes and broccoli too. Didn't see potato sprouts yet, but then they haven't been in the ground for that long. Dill, parsley and oregano should be planted already. Even basil seems to be finally sprouting.

Flowers are growing like weeds. There's yellow lilies in a flower bed next to a pink rose. The Midsummer's rose on our neighbor's yard is putting out it's white flowers. Their rhododendron is in full bloom too. Daisies, knapweed, lilacs and chives  are making our yard look very Finnish indeed, with the blue and white color theme. Lilies of the valley are a bit over their best days already, but still blooming. Marigolds are growing in their bunny pots.

Lilacs, berries, apple blossoms...

That yard of ours. I went out to take som photos again. The other apple tree is a cloud of flowers, bees busily buzzing from flower to flower. Gooseberry and red currant bushes are heavy with tiny baby berries. Lilacs are not in full bloom yet, but getting there, same goes for lilies in the valley in the forest. There's strawberries growing everywhere, even blueberry bushels in the forest. Rhubarb is tall and some knapweeds are growing here and there. This will also be a huge pine cone year in our yard.

Bushes in our garden

We've got a couple of quite big currently blooming berry bushes in our yard. The other one I have identified as red currant, the other one is gooseberry. I am thrilled :) Both make excellent jelly, red currant makes real good whipped cream of wheat, and gooseberries I have loved since I was a kid. I love our yard!

We also have a small patch of rhubarb growing in our yard. Last week I cut some and made some real good rhubarb pie to take to my grandmother for her birthday.

First snow

First snow came down on Friday. November became instantly prettier even though I don't really like snow per se. The snow came down thick and wet, as the temperature was only right there at zero degrees C. It piled on berries and apples that are still hanging on to their tree branches. It was a fluffy 10-15cm that is bound to be gone by Tuesday; the temperature is already on the plus side again and should climb up to +5C or so according to the weather forecast. These November snows rarely stay on the ground for more than a few days.

 

 

 

 

Foliage and mushrooms

Autumn around here is starting to be at its best, with trees and undergrowth, like blueberry bushes, changing form green to yellow, orange and red. Many trees have lost all of their leaves already. Mushroms are everywhere, a lot of them already decaying.

 

Berries

Fruit and berries are ripening fast with the approaching autumn. Late summer flowers are blooming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windy autumn day

Autumn has been uncharacteristically warm and dry this year. Everything is still green, a whole lot of flowers are still blooming, and the trees have only started to change color and drop their leaves during the past week or so. Some mushrooms are popping up here and there and the acorns are turning brown.

Today was a somewhat windy day, as we were walking along the banks of the river Vantaa, and in the surroundings of the Tuomarinkylä manor, the gushes of wind sending leaves fluttering to the ground.