Autumn in our garden - Vol I

Two very popular autumn-bloomers in Estonia are hydrangeas and dahlias. One is a bush (hydrangea) which have to be cut a lot to get big and many blossoms, another a flower (dahlia) which has to be taken out each winter to store it in warmer place, but all this fuss is worth it - they bloom like crazy until the frost comes...

Dahlias

Dahlia naturally comes from Mexico and Colombia. Dahlia is named after Swedish 18th-century botanist Anders Dahl. Among gardereners, dahlia is appreciated because of its wide range of colours - the darkest of reds and purples to the brightest of yellows and whites. No doubt - the multiple colored dahlias are the most interesting ones.

In my garden, there are 4 spieces of dahlias right now:

Dahlia "Bluesette" (pink)

Dahlia "Marbel Ball" (white-pink-purple)

Dahlia "Mystery Day" (dark red and white)

Cactus-dahlia "Orfeo" (purple)

Hydrangeas

In Estonia, two different hydrangeas can be grown - hydrangea paniculata (in Estonian aedhortensia) and hydrangea arborescens (in Estonian puishortensia). The first one is a bush which survives the winter without any problems while the second one is grown in Estonia as a flower which frozens back every year, but recovers due to its good roots and grows itself new stalks and leaves and blooms intensively in August, September and even October.

All hydrangeas grown in Estonia are with white blooms. The other ones (for instance blue hydrangeas) do not survive our cold winters. However, many paniculata blooms develop a lovely pink shade as the blooms age, extending their beauty into September and October months. The name "paniculata" comes from the fact that many of the blooms are panicle-shaped (somewhat cone shaped) rather than ball-shaped.

My hydrangeas are:

Hydrangea arborescens "Annabelle"

Hydrangea paniculata "Grandiflora"

Hydrangea paniculata "Limelight"

Hydrangea paniculata "Pink Diamond"

Hydrangea paniculata "Pinky Winky"

The touch of Prague

Photos Radim Sulc

2 weeks ago, I visited one of the most beautiful capitals in Eastern Europe - Prague.
Prague is situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia and is home for 1.2 million people. It is a very old town - being the cultural and political centre of Czech for 1100 years and therefore, is full of history.
The old town is very beautiful and I and my colleague Marine enjoyed walking around there.

Astronomical clock
Prague Orloj -the oldest part of the Orloj, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, dates back to 1410. Later the clock was rebuilt by the master Hanus in 1490 (master Hanus of Ruze perfected the mechanism and in 1552-1560 Klokotská Hora repaired it). The clock is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the sun and moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details, ‘The Walk of the Apostles', a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures, and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.
Photo: The astronomical clock

Photo: I and Marina in front of the astronomical clock

Old Town Square

Old Town Square is always full of people - a lot of tourists visit it. The Church of Our Lady before Týn (often called just Týn Church) is a dominant feature of the Old Town Square. It has been the main church of this part of the city since the 14th century. The church's towers are 80 m high and topped by four small spires.

Photo: I in the Old Town Square, the Týn church back.

Photo: I in Prague metro (opened in 1974)

Karlova Bridge

The most wellknown bridge in Prague is called Karluv Most. The building began in 1357 and the Bohemian sandstone was used. The construction took place until the beginning of 15th century.

As the only means of crossing the river Vltava (Moldau), the Karlova Bridge used to be the most important connection between the Old Town, Prague Castle and adjacent areas until 1841.

The bridge is 516 meters long and nearly 10 meters wide. It is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Leser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side.

Photo: I in Karlova Bridge with the Old Town Bridge Tower (built by Petr Parler).

Photo: Street musicians in Karlova Bridge

Photo: I and Marina

Photo: I on one of the bridges in Prague

Photo: View over Vltava river, tourists boats and Manes Bridge

Photo: View to Hradcany quater

Photo: Something about work, too - Esrel 2009 Conference

My Graduation Day

On Thursday, September 17, the ceremonial commencement was held in our university - to celebrate the 91st birthday of the university as well as hand over the certificates of Doctor's Degree for all those 38 doctors in our university who had defended their work within 1 year. I was one of them :)

So since Thursday, I'm officially doctor with all the proof certificates.

Photo: Our Rector Peep Sürje arriving to the ceremony.

Photo: Rector Peep Sürje is giving me the diploma.

Photo: I'm writing my signature to the university's yearbook.

Photo: Greetings time - Erik hugging me.

Photo: Greetings from my friends Tauno and Kairi.

Photo: Taken after the ceremony in the building where I work (Economics Faculty)

Photo: Taken near my new office.

Photo: My diploma.

Photo: A very small tea-table after the ceremony (I've had all my parties already in summer...)

Summer in our garden - Vol VI

My favourites among bushes are the ones who bloom for a long time or even twice during the year. This entry is dedicated to some of those shrubs in my garden.

Photo: Spiraea japonica "Froebelii" is one of the many spiraea shrubs I have in my garden. I like the colour of its blossoms - they create a nice pink spot in my front-yard during the summer. If you cut the wizened infloresences, it blooms for at least 2 months (July, August).

Photo: In Estonia, this bush is called "Snowball" (and it seems to have the same English name -Viburnum opulus "Roseum"), but its official Latin name is Viburnum opulus "Roseum". It blooms in the end of May and looks very nice then - however, many insects like its leaves, so there is no other way than use the insectiside in Spring if you want the bush look nice also during the rest of summer.

Photo: Deutzia scraba "Candidissima"- not very often grown in Estonia because of its scare for cold winters; lets see how it will like the winter on my garden... Anyway, it blossoms during the time (late June) when not many other bushes are blooming in Estonia and therefore, I really wanted it! As it was a very young plant, then this year, it had only a few blossoms, but they were fresh and nice for many weeks.

Photo: The small Meyer lilac "Palibin" (in English called also the dwarf Korean lilac) bloomed second time also in August. A very cute small bush!

On a misty summer morning...

Photographed by Erik, Lääne county, Estonia - September 2009

Happy birthday to Aune

Today, it's Aune's (my neighbour) birthday and I know she has had a great day. Here is the card for her birthday as well as the flowers I picked from my garden:

We have already been to her birthday celebrations, too, today morning with a delicious sandwich-cake and a biscuit-cake as a dessert.

Summer in our garden - Vol V

Right now, in the middle of September, roses have their second big blooming wave, and many of them are so beautiful right now... it's hard to believe Autumn is approaching so quickly and soon, everything goes to sleep...Photo: Very soon in full blooms - rose "Ingrid Bergmann". It is a hybrid tea rose which is introduced in 1984 by Oelsen. World Federation of Rose Societies (http://www.worldrose.org/) voted it as the most beautiful rose in 2000.

Photo: "Eden Rose" - new antique rose, introduced in France (1985) by Meilland. It has so very beautiful full double blossoms and beautiful romantic shape, but unfortunately the blossoms are not rain-proof, which makes her growing a bit difficult - you never know if you are going to see the blossoms in their full beauty before the rain destroys them or don't... It was voted among the world's favourite rose in 2006 by World Federation of Rose Societies.

Photo: The lovliest bloomer among white roses - "Aspirin" which was developed by Jans Jürgen Evers in 1997 . Besides blooming so much, its main strength is also the strong resistance to rose diseases. Its leaves are always shiny and healthy while many other roses next to it suffer from time to time.

Photo: "Palmegarten Frankfurt" (introduced in 1988, by Kordes) - my very first rose in the garden; right now it blooms like you see in the picture. A lovely pink spot in the garden.

Photo: Given as a gift from my colleague Marina, "Fantasia Mondiale" (by Kordes, 2000) is the only yellowish rose in my garden. It has well-formed apricot pink blossoms and is loved by my neighbour Kadri.

Photo: One of the "black" roses - "Mildred Scheel" (developed by M.Tantau,1978), bought from one of the private rose growers Mart Ojasalu. It was a very small plant when I bought it, but right now it will have 4 blossoms and I'm curious to see how dark the blossoms will be when they are fully opened.

Photo: A climber rose "Illusion" which will not bloom only once during the summer, but continously (however, not as fully as, for instance, "Flammentanz"). It is bred by Reiner Kordes in 1961 and has dark red blossoms.

Photo: A groundcover rose without a name (was sold so in shop) is appreciated for its dark-red blossoms which do not fade its colour during the blooming at all. Suits so well with white groundcover roses next to it.

Photo: "The Fairy" groundcover polyantha rose which in my garden looks more like a climber (as I've raised its branches alltogether higher). It's loved by all rose growers because of its ability to bloom like crazy, over the summer. The sea of pink flowers really remind of a fairy-tale...

"The Fairy" was bread by Bentall (1932) in United Kingdom.

Photo: A cluster-flowered rose "Candy Cover" (Hybridized by Poulsen, 1992) does not have too many blossoms one time, but they are cherrful with their colourful blossoms - light pink and dark pink together.

Photo: "Sexy Rexy" - loved by many gardeners. In some countries it has spread by name "Heckenzauber". It has a subtle creamy pink colour, with camellia-like, rounded blossoms, and flowers for weeks and weeks throughout the summer. It's bybridized by McGredy (New Zealand) in 1987.

Photo: "The Red Fairy" in a pot with a gypsophila. It is also a heavy bloomer, that is similar to parent, except color which is red instead of pink. It was introduced in 1992.

Photo: The polyantha rose "The White Fairy" produces large clusters of pompon-like white flowers and is quite effective with its dark green small leaves.

Photo: A bright deep-red floribunda rose "Nina Weibull" bred by Poulsen Roser A/S (1961) in Denmark always catches the eye in the garden.

Photo: Blueish climbing rose "Indigoletta", a rose I do not know much about (I bought it cheaply from a fair).

Photo: "Broceliande" (M. Adam, 2004) - quite an interesting combination of colours: fuchsia-pink with creamy; some blossoms look more red and some more creamy.