Birthday cards

It's been a long time since I have posted any birthday-cards I've made this Spring. Surely my friends have had birthdays and here are some of the cards:

This card went for Ragnar and he is having his birthday actually today:

This card had some more versions and I sent them to a few of my friends, but I think those two went to Piret (the Estonian version) and to Heike (the English version):

The hepatica-card had two version, too, one went to my mom and another to Erik's uncle:

And this card was for my ex-boss Anu:

Our sweethearts

Spring in our garden - Vol III

Spring has gotten warmer and warmer and all the plants in our garden are now covered with leaves (except hydrangeas which are knows as late leafers). Many of my plants have already blossomed or doing it right now or will do it very soon... Spring is so lovely - day by day, it surprises you with so many different colours.

LILACS

Lilacs are one of my favourite bushes. These are probably the first bushes I ever remember from my childhood, because we had a lilac with lilac blossoms growing next to our fence in Muhu (and it's actually still there, I have no idea how old this bush is already...). In my garden, I have 6 lilac bushes all together, but most of them are still young (3 of them I got a couple of weeks ago from my friend Kristi's mom) - so therefore, I can show only the blossoms of two of the bushes - the lilac one with white edges is called "Sensation" and I have no idea what is the name of the white one since it was here before I moved in, and no records remained.

BLEEDING HEARTS
Bleeding heart is a flower which I, again, remember from my childhood. Our bleeding heart in Muhu is still in her best shape, it has been flowering each May for decades, and it's HUGE. My pink bleeding heart (a very common flower in the gardens of Estonian countryside) is only 2 years old, but she is already a very nice flower. I do have 2 others - a white one and a "beautiful" bleeding heart (Kaunis murtudsüda), with Latin name 'Decentra Formosa'. Dicentra spectabilis (Harilik murtudsüda)
Dicentra spectabilis "Alba" (Harilik murtudsüda "Alba")
Dicentra formosa (Kaunis murtudsüda)

ALMOND TREE

The blossoms of double flowering almond tree 'Prunus triloba' are just wonderful... It's one of the most amazing bloomers in early Spring in Estonia - the wonderful romantic pink blossoms come before the leaves and you just cannot stop admireing the little tree. Unfortunately the tree is growing in Estonia in its very north line, so it is not tolerating our cold winters (especially without snow) and has to be covered if one wants to see the blossoms in spring. So it's a lot of work with this bush, but to see its blossoms, it's totally worth it.

PRIMROSES

My collection of primroses has grown up to 8 spieces, three of them which I got from my friend Kristi's mom. They are all in different colours - red, lilac and yellow. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find out their species, yet; but additionally, I bought 2 more from a garden fair - Primula Farinosa and Primula Rosa.

TULIPS

I've already presented some early bloomers-tulips; but later ones were still on good shape just a few days ago - a yellow one, a nice white one with red and green stripes and several yellow tulips.

OTHER SPRING BLOOMERS IN MY GARDEN

Meadowsweet "Grefsheim" (Tuhkurenelas)
Snowball-tree "Aureum" (Villane lodjapuu)
Gypsophila (Kipslill)
The Dill Daisie (Hõbekakar) The blossom of June berry (Lamarck) (Lamarki toompihlakas)

Thunberg burberry "Harlequim" (Thunbergi kukerpuu)

Within covers - PhD...

Dear friends,

I know that I haven't been a very active blogger recently. One of the reasons is pictured here - I've been busy with my doctoral thesis. By now, it's finally ready and by the end of this month, after having the defence of my thesis, I will find out if I'm worth of doctoral degree or not. This will be the culmination of my university studies since... 1994! I can't believe it's already 15 years ago when I started in Tallinn University of Technology and have stayed there until then. The study periods and degrees I've earned so far, are:

1994 -1999 ---Engineer of textile technology

2002 - 2003 --- Master of natural sciences

2004 - 2009 --- Doctoral student, ....

Wish me luck with the defence! :)

Spring in our garden - Vol II

This week has brought the first bloomers among bushes in my garden. Spring has been cold and most of the bushes are without leaves, yet, but the Forsythia and Japanese alpine cherry tree (in Estonian "kuriili kirsipuu") show their lovely spring-robe: one is all yellow, another all white. Photo: Forsythia x intermedia (värdforsüütika) - I have had this bush for 5 years already (however, 2 years ago, Tony ate almost the whole bush), but only this year it shows blossoms in every spray. I can see it from my kitchen window and it lightens up all the mornings! :)Photo: Japanese Alpine Cherry (Prunus nipponica var kurilensis, kuriili kirsipuu) called "RUBY" is a new plant in my garden, but is already blooming very nicely. It starts to bloom much earlier than the normal cherry trees, so it gives a special white spot in the garden either late April or early May (in Estonia).

Spring in our garden - vol I

Colourful spring, in the means of the well-known spring flowers such as tulips and primroses, has arrived to our garden. This year, we had a long snowy winter and therefore, the tulips are starting to open their lovely blossoms only right now. In fact, the first tulip's blossom was open on my birthday morning! :) I was very delighted about this, of course. The most enjoyable time in the garden has started...

TULIPS

Photo: Very interesting tulips - they look different when the blossoms are closed and different when the blossoms are opened. They have a very deep yelloq heart while the petals are white and deep red.

Photo: The same tulips and their yellow hearts.

Photo: My red mini-tulips! :)

Photo: The first tulips which started to bloom. I bought them last year from a fair and they do look very nice. One of the narcissus has opened its blossom, too.

PRIMROSES

Photo: Primroses in my new flowerbed next to a stone. Those are typical Drumstick primulas (Primula denticulata) which are very common, in white (alba) and in pink (Rubra) or violet (Violet) colour.

Photo: Primula denticulata Violet

Photo: Primula denticulata Alba

Photo: Primula denticulata Violet

Photo: The ancestors of Primula Juliae "Sneeuwwitje"- a tiny tiny primula - comes from Caucasus mountains and was discovered on 20 April, 1900 by Julia Mlokossjewicz. She was exploring the slopes of her homeland in southwest Russia and discovered this tiny primula growing with moist mosses along a mountain stream.

Photo: Primula cortusoides "Primadiente" should blossom longer than any other primula's type.

Photo: I have 3 plants of Primula cortusoides.

Photo: And finally... the lovely yellow small leaves of Thunberg burberry "Maria".