Dandelions

Often times dandelions are already everywhere by mid-May. Often times lilacs are in full bloom by the end of May when schools end. Often times apple trees are blooming all May long. Despite our "heatwave" in March, spring is actually quite late this year, due to the weeks of cold and rainy weather after that first warm spell. Occasional warm days have been quite, well, occasional. Thus, dandelions are taking over our yard only now. Apple trees are only starting to bloom. Lilacs only have small flower buds. Still, summer's knocking on the door.

First dandelions

Yesterday I found the first dandelions of the spring, haging out from between some rocks on our rock wall.

Beans, apple blossoms and other flowers

Spring is rapidly turning into summer. While it is still May, the nature is in full summer mode. We have +26C in the day time, and even during the night the temperature doesn't drop below 15 degrees. Everything is in flower. Apple trees, dandelions (many of them already turned to those white balls already), all sorts of little road side flowers, hedges and vines in peoples yards, and rhododendrons and tulips (many of which are already beyond) et al. And trees are heavy with catkins, though birches seem to be past the worst.

Yesterday I went to the stables at Nurmijärvi with my eldest daughter; there are many apple trees there, starting to bloom, whereas here they are already in full bloom. Today I walked aroud our neighborhood with our dog and my camera.

Also, our beans and last year's rucola (I guess it dropped a whole lot of seeds!) are growing nicely :) Hosta undulatas on our yard are growig fast too, and those flower seeds I planted a week ago are starting to sprout.

 

 

 

 

Flowers all around

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood... and the sun was out and it was warm already before 10am when I went for the morning walk with the dog. There's flowers everywhere, and the lilies of the valley cover the forest grounds. Hackberry and filipendula are in bloom too.

 

 

 

 

Hailstorms belong to spring

Yesterday we had a a couple hailstorms that left the ground all covered with ice balls.

Today the weather has been a bit nicer. Some rain just a while ago, and windy, but I had a nice enough (and dry too) walk with the dog right before the rain, as the dark clouds were gathering up. I noticed the first dandelions of this spring as we walked, and that the weather is cool enough for the ant colonies to mostly stay underground today; only some special forces unit seemed to be out and about, guarding the nests. A lone bumblebee was buzzing in the grass, working on fallen pussy willows.

 

 

 

Backyard on first summer day

First of June, first calendar-official summer day. And a summery day it was, too! Sunny and warm :) Our herb garden is doing well, all in all. Strawberries have flowers, lilacs on the neighbors' yards are in full bloom and our lawn has turned into a meadow in serious need of a trimming.

Dandelions and the lone tulip on our overgrown lawn

Dandelion horta

We were weeding our yard and pulling out all those dandelions from the lawn, when we decided to make use of them. So I cleaned a bunch of them out and we cooked a pot full of "horta" of them. Thoroughly rinsed and topped off with olive oil and lemon juice, very good!