Summer in our garden - Vol II

ROSES

Today, I'd like to share my passion for roses with you.

Last summer, I started with 1 rose plant (read here: http://karinphotography.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-first-rose.html )

I promised to tell if the first rose plant survived the winter and was still alive also in summer 2009. And yes - I'm proud to tell that it hibernated really well and is blooming even more beautifully than I expected. Here it is - my first rose "Palmegarten Frankfurt" in summer 2009: Photo: Rose "Palmegarten Frankfurt"

Photo: Rose "Palmegarten Frankfurt"

It seems that when you give your finger to the beauty of roses, it surely takes the whole hand. And it has taken mine! The number of roses in my garden has grown from one up to 0ver 40... Most of them I bought in the start of the summer when Erik and I designed our rosarium. But it accommodates only 21 roses; all others are planted around the garden. I have several rose types - park roses (rugosa roses), polyanth roses, floribunda roses, shrub roses, hybrid tea roses...

I'd like to share some of them with you now.

My absolute favourites

No 1 - "Leonardo da Vinci" (a new "english" floribunda rose). The Leonardo da Vinci rose was introduced by Meilland in 1994.

Photo: Rose "Leonardo da Vinci"

Photo: Rose "Leonardo da Vinci"

Photo: Rose "Leonardo da Vinci"

No 2 - "Ingrid Bergmann" (hybrid tea rose) and "Aspirin" (floribunda rose). In my garden, they supplement each other - one having a very deep dark-red colour ("Ingrid Bergmann") and another mother-of-pearl white colour. Aspirin rose was developed by Jans Jürgen Evers in 1997 and Ingrid Bergmann hybridized by Poulsen in 1984 (has won several awards such as Belfast Gold Medal - 1985; Madrid Gold Medal - 1986; Golden Rose of The Hague - 1987).

Photo: Roses "Ingrid Bergmann", "Aspirin" and Red-twig dogwood (Cornus alba) "Elegantissima"
Photo: Rose "Ingrid Bergmann"

Photo: Rose "Aspirin"

Photo: Rose "Aspirin"

Other beautiful roses

A very cute, fragile polyanth rose is called "Bride rose" and has been developed here in Estonia (by Eichveld, 1950):

Photo: "Bride rose"

Photo: Bride rose

A very popular rose in Estonian gardens (among polyanth roses) is "The Fairy". In my garden, I have all three versions: pink, white and red:

Photo: Rose "The Fairy"

Photo: Rose "The Fairy"

Photo: Rose "The red fairy"

Photo: "The white fairy"

Polyanth rose "Scarletta" has blood-red blossoms which are always outstanding:

Photo: Rose "Scarletta"

An old portland rose, which I have started to like very much, is called "Rosa de Rescht" - a wonderful Portland Damask rose that is was rediscovered in Persia in 1945 by an English gardener Nancy Lindsay, who brought it back with her and introduced it into commerce. Its blossoms are double, pompon-like and the scent is very strong.

Photo: Rose "Rosa de Rescht"

Photo: Rose "Rosa de Rescht"

A hybrid rugosa rose - "Pink Grootendorst" - is different from my other roses because its blossoms are very similar to dianthus blossoms. It is bred by Bred by F.J. Grootendorst (1923) in the Netherlands.Photo: Rose "Pink Grootendorst"

A floribunda rose "Schneewittchen" is a lovely white rose (introduced in 1958) which is loved by Estonian gardeners because of its longlasting blooms and a light and pleasant scent.

Photo: Rose "Schneewittchen"

My D-Day

Finally some photos about one of the most important days of my life during 2009 - the day I defended my thesis to apply the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).

It was indeed a long but exciting day. It started in the morning with nervous feelings - will everything go smoothly? Will I remember to say everything I wanted during my presentation? Will I be able to answer all the questions asked by the committee?

Then, after I tried to calm myself down, it was time to go to the university and do it.

The Defence Photo: The very first photo, when the defence hadn't started, yet.

Photo: The people who have come to listen tome. The committee hasn't sit in their right places, yet.

Photo: My presentation is over and I'm answering the questions of opponents. Next to me, you can see the Dean of our faculty.

Photo: After voting, the Dean is reading the decision.... and it's positive :)

Photo: Now it's time for congratulations - she is my supervisor's wife (also my former co-worker)

Photo: Congratulations and flowers by our secretary Elviira. And you can see my supervisor on this photo, too

Photo: Leaving the defence room with my flowers

Photo: I and Erik and my flowers

Photo: All the flowers I got - and now already at home

Celebrations afterwards

After the defence, I had a small banquet for the people who participated in the defence - with the champagne, cake, fruits and coffee.

Photo: My co-worker Henn is opening the champagne

Photo: And the celebrations can start!

Photo: My co-worker Marina, Erik and I during the banquet

After the banquet, I invited the supervisors, opponents and my family to the restaurant in the Old Town of Tallinn. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant and everyone had great time.

Photo: Supervisors, Erik, my mom and me after the lovely dinner in the Old Town of Tallinn.

In July 4, I had a big party for all of my friends and relatives. It was a garden party at my home and besides my Estonian friends, also my dear Finnish friend Minna participated in it.

Photo: My friends and family during the party in July 4.

Photo: Erik's special Ph.D cake for me! :)

Photo-hunting bears

In June 30, I and Erik went to photo-hunt bears. It was a special gift from Erik to me for my successful end of doctoral studies.

In Estonia, a very first hide to see bears has been put up this summer which is situated in the eastern part of Estonia, in the deep forest. We had to stay in the hide for the whole night. And just wait... and wonder if the bear will come or decides not to come?

Photo: The start of the trip: Erik has packed all our photo technique to one bag. HEAVY!!!

Photo: On our walk to the hide which was situated deep in the forest.

Photo: The hide looks like that. The place where bears should show up is not on the photo, but is on the left side in the middle of old trees.

Photo: Everything is ready to photograph. Now, the only thing is to wait... And we wait... and wait... until midnight when the bear decides to come. Unfortunately it's too dark and we can't get good photos. He is there also during night, but it's even too dark to see him well.

Photo: The bear comes back at 3.30 and by then, it's light enough to have at least a photo for your own memory (photographed by Erik). The bear stays there for a few minutes and it is a good impression for the rest of your life - to see a bear in wild nature...

Thank you, Erik!

Summer in our garden - Vol I

Summer has arrived already weeks ago. More and more flowers are blooming, and some have already finished. One of the flowers blooming right now (and soon will end) are PEONIES. These are also called as "grandmothers' flowers" in Estonia, as they have been grown in the gardens for hunders of years and are still very popular. In my garden, there are 11 spieces of peonies, but all of them are still young. The oldest is here in my garden for 6 years, but since I re-planted it last autumn, then I got only 1 blossom this summer (peonies do not like re-planting at all and usually vegetate about 2-3 years before they start to bloom again). All other peonies are very young - four I planted last autumn (3 of them I got from my friend Kristi's mother), luckily three of them also bloomed; and the rest I planted just this spring (of which 2 were blooming).
Here they are:

This peony is called "Bowl of the Beauty" (belongs to group Paeonia lactiflora) is a Japanese type peony with carmine-pink blossoms with dense, creamy white centers consisting of many crowded, narrow petaloids. I think it's the prettiest peony among Japanese peonies.

This is my oldest peony which was here before I moved in to the house, planted by the previous owner (it was actually the only flower which had peen planter here!). It's called "Sarah Bernhardt" (among group Paeonia lactiflora, developer: Lemoine, 1906) and I like its lovely fragile light pink colour and double blossoms. I hope it is not very angry at me that I re-planted it last autumn and will give a lot of blossoms next summer.

This white double-blossoms peony is given to me by Kristi's mother and I tried to determine its name, but I'm not completely sure about it. The closest looking peony is called "Elsa Sass" which is a late bloomer and produces large, double white flowers.

This peony, received from Kristi's mother, is called "Edulis Superba", a well-known species which grows in many gardens in countryside of Estonia. It's developed by Lemon in France in 1824.

This red peony is an early bloomer and belongs to Paeonia officinalis group. The name of this peony is "Rubra Plena" and it's lower than others having lighter green leaves. It's a very old peony, at least from 17th century.

My very new peony, "Belle de Neige" produced only 2 small blossoms - I hope much more next year. It should have double-white blossoms with a few dark-red stripes inside.