Britt-Arnhild's Blue Garden

I wish the summer could last.....

2009-08-10T13:26:00.001-07:00

The days are still mild and sunny, the garden is filled with colours.

The nights are darker, much darker though.

I wish summer could last for ever!

Sunny moments

2009-08-01T08:10:00.001-07:00

Saturday. August 1st. Sun. A smiling Blue Garden

Because of al my travels the past months, the garden has been quite neglected. Still it showers me with roses and happy dances.

Nature's Wonder

2009-03-22T11:52:00.001-07:00

Text to this wonder will be up in The House in the Woods tomorrow.

The bright spring sun

2009-03-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Soon it will be time to open the Blue Garden. The spring sun shines bright today with power to melt some of this white stuff called snow. The air smells of hope. I am back to garden blogging!

The Blue Garden dressed in her snow coat

2009-01-04T00:57:00.000-08:00

Garden life is a dream. I sit in front of the fire with a mug of tea, reading garden books. Dreaming of a spring and a summer far, far ahead.

It is bitterly cold. My time in the garden is limited to photographing, feeding birds and squirrels.

White has its own beauty, though my garden dreams have the colours of the rainbow.

Welcome 2009

2009-01-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

Woke up to snow!

2008-12-31T06:16:00.000-08:00

On this last day of 2008 I woke up to a snowing world.

Everything has been so dark lately with the old snow turing into dirty ice, but now the world feels new.

I am busy in the kitchen, preparing for a party tonight, but have found time to run out to taste the snowflakes.

-----------------------------------

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Feeding the birds for Christmas

2008-12-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

Birds and squirrels deserve a little extra when Juletide is here.

Blue in the Blue Garden

2008-12-28T07:37:00.000-08:00

The Santa Barbara twig

2008-12-27T04:52:00.001-08:00

December 4th, on Barbromesse, Santa Barbara Day, I cut a twig from the plumtree and took it indoors to let it grow in lukewarm water. It was supposed to bloom on Christmas Day.

I suppose our Nordic winter is too dark and cold, as very little has happened to the twig yet.

White for Christmas

2008-12-26T03:23:00.001-08:00

We are enjoying a White Christmas, but the snow is old and icy and not at all the way I want snow to be - no snowmen making, no playing in the snow, no skiing for me though my husband is out almost every day.
The garden is dead and frozen. The days are short and during the week we are home only when the world is dark. During the holiday we enjoy the light.

I took a garden walk this morning, filled with dreams of a coming summer. Indoors I have a pile of garden books ready to be read, and my dreaming continue.

Winter closed

2008-12-07T04:45:00.000-08:00

The play house is winter closed. Some days I wonder how it would be like to open it, serve some hot chocolate and sit down with some reading. But I soon come to my senses. The winter in Norway is too cold, and anyway the playhouse is a perfect storehouse during winter, so there would be no place to sit down.
I wonder of the "nisser" are there though. Somewhere inside, making their nisselife comfortable. We will give them risengrynsgrøt on Christmas Eve and see what happens.

The birds need a helping hand

2008-11-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

Our old birdfeeder has seen its best days. But the birds need food, and I want to see them from the livingroom when they are feasting on nuts and sunflower seeds.
I found a couple of new feeders a few days ago, and now both I and the birds are happy.

It looks like it will be a long winter

2008-11-25T12:49:00.001-08:00

More winterphotos in The House in the Woods.

How to make the snow a little warmer

The last rose

The first snow

2008-11-16T05:01:00.001-08:00

I woke up to the first snow this morning. Just a light sprinkle, and it will probably melt fast, but still it is snow, real cold, wet snow.

I like to follow the seasons, always looking forward to a change in the weather, always trying to live with the changes. Still, this year it feels too early to welcome old man winter. It might be because I have just spent three weeks in India, enjoying sunny days.

I had a nice Sunday morning walk though. There is always something going on in a garden.

Last winter preparations

2008-11-15T02:42:00.000-08:00

Every season has its own charm. It is raining cats and dogs here today, so the week-end will be spent indoors. Perfect for creative activities.

The days are short, it is dark when we leave for work now, and dark when we are back home again. Luckily last week-end was better, and my husband did alot of winter preparations in the garden.

All pots are emptied or moved indoors to a cold room in the basement.

Old leaves are raked together and will make good compost for next years growth.

We are ready for winter.

The gardener moves indoors

2008-10-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

It is time to start the hyacint bulbs. Those for indoor growing have been hard to find here this year, but on Saturday I was lucky. We were at our cabin and when Terje visited a shop to buy some tools I found a corner filled with bulbs. Most of them were for next spring flowers, but in between I found six hyacints, two white, two pink and two blue.

Marta has promised me to make paper hats for them tomorrow and they will then be removed down to the basement for a few weeks of resting.

Red and blue in the autumn garden

2008-10-09T08:20:00.001-07:00

Back in the sanctuary

2008-10-07T08:30:00.001-07:00

Last spring I decided to make the backyard wilderness into a sanctuary. I place where I can walk around enjoying beauty and wildlife, a place where I can sit down in quiet or in prayers, a place where I can find myself.
It really was a wildlife when I made my desicion and Terje spent many hours digging old plants and loads of soil. Slowly the place started to show us its own charm, and when spring came this year Terje continued his work.

In good time for my birthday he finished the digging and grass was sown. A few trees were planted, some lavender bushes were moved from other places in the garden. I spotted two huge terracotta pots at a gardenshop I pass on my way to work and knew that they would be perfect for the sanctuary, and the simple bench became a good spot to sit down in reflections.

The sanctuary is not finished, and might not never be - the best part of growing a garden is the work which continue and change from day till day, from season till season. But it has become a good place to stay.

I fill the air with prayers hoping that the film between heaven and earth will be worn thin.

The sanctuary is what I see from my kitchen window.
The late afternoon sun played hide and seek with the flowers and trees today, and I let the beauty fill me.

The first snowflakes

2008-10-05T09:31:00.001-07:00

During our morning coffee we looked out the window and saw the very first snow flakes of the season. Only a few, very wet ones, and they melted almost before they reached the ground, but still a clearly sign - winter is on its way.
There were still flowerpots left out in the garden, I always wait as long as possible to empty them because I hate saying goodbye to the colours of summer. Often I wait too long and the frost takes plants which could have survived in the basement, or it breaks the pots.

We finished our coffee and then dressed in boots and thick jackets.
Four hands work so much better then two, and in almost no time most of the pots were emptied and stored away. Some plants have found their winter room, some are still in the livingroom or the kitchen to give us more of their beauty before I also have to carry them down into the basement. A few are still outside, I never give up the hope that frost will be delayed and we can enjoy one more last rose, more sparkling colours from the fucsias, a few geraniums in white, pink and red.

The squirrels didn't like to be disturbed by two busy gardeners, the neighbours little dog loved it though, and helped us spreading as many cones as possible. Marta watched from the window and came out to play along.

A happy Sunday

The porch is decorated for autumn

2008-10-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

A favorite part of autumn is to decorate the porch.

Which theme to chose for this year?

I go to the flowershop with a head filled with ideas.

Some of the flowers I want are not there, new ideas meet my eyes,

and I come home with a totally new theme.

This year a basket quilt from my quilt collection craved the be used.

"Are you sure you want to stay outdoors at this time of the year?" I asked.

The quilt reassured me.

"It is autumn, and your wooden porch bench is the right place for me."

Before the long sleep

2008-10-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

October has come and our long and unexpected Indian Summer must come to an end. The days are shorter, and the nights are cold, cold, cold. Frost is right around the corner and it is time to find comfortable sleeping areas for plants which are not comfortable with the long, cold and dark Nordic winters.
My morning walk in the garden is extra long today. I pick huge bouquets of roses, I mix colours and make small and large bouquets fo late flowers for every room in our house. It is better to enjoy the beauty and the colours for a few days indoors than be sad the morning you woke up only to discover that the frost got it all.

Every season has it's own charm. Autumn often brings a sadness, time for goodbyes, time for endings. But it also brings the hope of new life. Death is not the end, but a beginning of something else.

I can trust my garden. It is always here waiting for me. It greets me through my life - "go, see the world, then come back and enjoy what you have here", "come, stay, wrap yourself in colours and fragrance". My garden, my sanctuary. Charming in its untidyness, never a garden for the magazines, always a garden for my life.

This post was originally posted in The House in the Woods.

The saddest part......

2008-09-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

The saddest part of autumn is the goodbyes, and the short days. Soon my mornings will be too dark to enjoy much of the garden before I head for work. The birds will get their seeds all though the winter, so I will be out every morning, but my eyes will miss their daily feed, the colours of the garden.
Pink, light blue, white.....spots of treasures along every path, in every bed. I drink in the beauty, the sight, the smell, my fingertips touching the velvet surface of a late leave.

And always when I walk I look for colours for my food palette.

Cooking is a highlight of the day.

Early morning in the garden

2008-09-22T09:47:00.001-07:00

Life has been running ahead of me this summer, and I can't tell if I ever had some time to sit down and smell the roses.

The roses and all other flowers must sense my living too fast for the senses though, and are awarding me with their beauty. Their whisper is heard through the air by ears ready to listen:

Stop, breath, smell, enjoy.

We are here. For you.

An early morning walk though a wet garden this morning helped me to halt.

My roses are blooming

2008-07-24T04:30:00.001-07:00

More than a month away from garden blogging, more than a month constantly on the road (world travelling is my passion), more than a month without the combination of sun and me at home in my garden.

But today everything goes my way. I am off work, the sun shines, the butterlies are partying and the roses compete with the lavenders in their blooming.

I walk around in the garden, weeding some here some there, but most of all I enjoy the sparkling colour palette. I smell the roses, I photograph the roses, I enjoy their beauty, I dream myself into the world of roses.

A rose is a rose is a rose.........

Blue Poppy Sister

2008-06-15T03:31:00.000-07:00

When you have a garden there are milestone days almost every day. The day when the first "blå valmuesøster" (Blue Poppy Sister" is a day I always look forward to. I love this flower. I had several in my old garden, but when we moved here it tok me years to find replacements. Last year I found two, and today the first one started to bloom.

Every day in a gardener's life is a feast day.

Fruit trees in The Blue Garden

2008-06-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

The last tulips take the prize

2008-06-01T08:47:00.001-07:00

Tulip Time

2008-05-18T01:01:00.001-07:00

Though we are back to cold temperatures, my tulips have never been blooming in May 17th, Norway's Constitutional Day, before. This year their beauty sends out flirtatious vibes. I was out photographing early this morning, and the buds were not open yet. Later today they will unfold their hearts offering love to the world.

The white ball like ones are supposed to be red with white stripes when they open. I am excited to see.

I don't need diamonds and pearls.....

2008-05-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

"What do you want for your 50th birthday?" my husband asked. I couldn't give him an answer right away and thought about it for days. A diamon ring? A golden necklace? The world was mine and I could choose on its top shelf.

But I don't have much need for diamons and pearls, and hesitated to put it on top of my wish list.

Suddenly I knew the answer to Terje's question. "I want your loving hands in the garden!"

His hands are working in the garden just as much as mine are, but his gift for me will be some special project. First the kitchen veranda will get a well deserved face lift. Second I want a potting shed. Third.......wel,, that's not decided yet.

How long will I be able to claim extra working hours from him :-)

Old memories......and tulips soon in bloom

2008-05-14T11:26:00.001-07:00

Grandma Olga lived in an old red house. She was widowed only two months after I was born in 1958, and when her grandchildren started to come she had alot of time available for us. I loved spending the night with granny, alone or with cousin Oddbjørg who was one year older than me and my hero through most of my childhood. Grandma's red house had a huge garden, with the best treat a little girl could imagine, a secret garden made by a circle of lilacs. In the middle of the circle was a stone table and two benches. The scent of lilacs always reminds me for childhood secrets. In all my own gardens later in life I have tried to plant lilacs, but they will never grow for me. I have come to realize it must be not to take my fragrant childhood memories away.

When I married the summer of 1980, Terje and I moved into the old red house together with grandma Olga, and we started to garden with her. The first thing we did was digging a vegetable garden where we planted beans and peas, and when autumn came we filled the freezer with vegetables for winter soups.

Wherever we walked in grandma's garden I found tiny blue scillas, and they soon became one of my favorite flowers. Blue muscaris were also found around in grandma Olga's garden, and the first thing I do now when moving to a new place (not that we move very often) is to plant scillas and muscaris. Lots of them.
My tulips are starting to bloom. This photo was taken last week.

Primulas/Primroses

2008-05-08T12:15:00.001-07:00

I love the palette these primulas are creating.

One heart up, one heart down

2008-05-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

With a garden you are never bored. Especially during spring. I find new treasures every day during my garden walks.

Too busy in my garden

2008-05-06T12:46:00.001-07:00

I am busy in the garden these days, so a few cabin flower from last week-end will have to do here.

More cabin tulips over in The House in the Woods.

Cabin week-end, a visitor

2008-05-04T11:04:00.001-07:00

Thursday morning we left The Blue Garden and headed for our cabin to check how our flowers are doing. They were all perfectly fine, daffodills and snowdrops gone, tulips starting to bloom. And all our roses alive!

I sat out on the cabin porch this morning reading a Tasha Tudor garden book when this little guy came for a short visit.

Started the vegetable garden

2008-04-30T13:09:00.001-07:00

The temperatures are unusually mild for the season. 20C today, and we can see the grass and the leaves growing. It can still come frosty nights for a few weeks, but I tokk the chance to start the vegetable garden today. So far only rucola salad and radish, and also a bed with sweet peas just outside the vegetable patch. Marta has been home from school with fever and a bad cough all week, but is getting better, and tonight she was inspired and came out to make a sunflower bed on the western side of the house. Sown red sunflowers.
Terje was also out with us, and kept on his work in the rainbow garden. Moved a few birches and fir trees, and helped me move a few huge, old lavenders.

Also bought a few daisies today and planted them out, together with geranium. From a friend in Switzerland I got a seed packet in the mail the other day, and they are now planted and prayed over.

Looking out my kitchen window.

2008-04-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Looking out my kitchen window I see the herb garden, and lifting my eyes a little more, the sanctuary, the silent garden, the rainbow garden (to be) is there. When we started to prepare the wilderness which is to become my rainbow praying garden last summer, I had no clear ideas of how this part of the garden would turn out. I still don't have, but slowly, slowly the silent garden is coming to life.

It will not be easy to get thigs to grow under the huge fir trees which have been growing there for so many years. But slowly, slowly the growing will continue. And the praying stone is always there for me.

Promising spots

2008-04-27T12:00:00.001-07:00

The dusty gray is giving way to colourful spots in the garden. My daily morning walk is filled with surprises and happy colour spots.

In my grandmother's garden this primula veris was everywhere. Almost like a weed. I love weeds.

Just a few days and this will be a deep red flower.

Hiding under some bushes.

Barbeque season started.

2008-04-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

A mild and beautiful day, and we started barbeque season. How I love this time of the year. I have spent all afternoon gardening. New beds are forming, old beds are changed, the silent garden grows.

The photo shows Ingrid, her boyfriend Marius and their friend Hanne.

A new "On The Edge"-story

2008-04-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Another "On the Edge of The Blue Garden"-story is posted over at Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods.

Slowly coming to live.

2008-04-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

A Golden moment

2008-04-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

A blue sky, and finally, finally the sun gives some warmth.

I took an afternoon nap out on the porch when I suddenly thought I heard a duck. But there are no ducks in my garden. I must be dreaming I thought. I tried to go back to sleep but the noise came closer, and closer, and closer.......

Then I looked up, and a huge V of flying geese passed right over my head. They quackled like a group of teenage girls out on their first date.......and who knows, may that's what they were.

Feeding birds and squirrels

2008-04-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

With spring growing the birds and squirrels are able to find food on their own.

But we so much love having them around, I feed tham all year.

Out of the wilderness

2008-04-19T09:46:00.001-07:00

Last summer my husband (my private gardener) started the industrious task to make order out of the chaotic wilderness in our backyard. Everything has grown wild here since the house was built in 1975. Last summer was busy in so many ways, so he never finished the work, but earlier this week, as soon as the snow had melted, he started again, and now the hard work is almost done.

From my kitchen window I look right out into this wilderness, and as soon as he started the work last year I knew that the wilderness would be a sanctuary, my rainbow garden for silence and prayers.

I have alot of ideas for the area, though it might me hard to make things grown under the huge fir trees. In a few weeks now the danger of night frost is over and I can start planting.

If you follow this link you will find a photo from April last year.

At The Edges of a Blue Garden

2008-04-18T05:02:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a troll family living at The Edges of a Blue Garden. All winter they made life comfortable inside an old stump, but as soon as spring came they left their winter quarter and came out to explore The Edges as they called their land. From early morning till late night the trolls played among the flowers in the garden, breathing their fantasy and their imagination into every bud and every leaf and every butterfly and every ant and every spider they met.
The trolls were shy and they were afraid the Blue Lady might chase them away if she found them. They knew the hours of the Blue Lady's garden walks, and hid as best they could when she was nearby.

All the snow had finally melted on The Edges of a Blue Garden and Mother Troll, Sister Troll and Brother Troll played outdoors from daylight till dusk. During the week-days they felt safe, The Blue Lady was always away then. Untill today. Troll Sister and Troll Brother suddenly froze stiff, pretending to be stones. The Blue Lady came humming around the corner carrying her camera.

At the Edges of a Blue Garden The Blue Lady stopped, bent down and started to shoot photos. Blue Sister could hear her say "Lovely, the Troll Garden is coming alive. I will get some great photos for my garden diary today". Troll Sister Looked at Troll Brother: "The Troll Garden? Is that the name she has given The Edge of a Blue Garden? Troll Garden, do you think she knows about us?" Troll Brother looked frightened. They had promised Troll Mother never to let any Lords of Ladies see them, and never ever The Blue Lady. She was the owner of their troll universe, and what if she wanted a garden free of trolls?

"Let us keep on pretending we are stones" said Troll Sister. "Look, she is on her way back to the Blue Garden. I am sure she haven't seen us".

Having rounded the corner The Blue Lady stopped and looked carefully back over her shoulder. The Troll Garden was filled with stones, but after a while she could see a couple of the stones moving. She smiled to herself and walked back in to her studio and her garden diary.

Seeding Time

2008-04-17T09:55:00.001-07:00

My collection of seeds from around the world has been waiting patiently for sowing. In the colourful bowl to the left I have poppey seeds from Lindisfarne, to the right I have a collection of "surprise seeds" from Carl von Linné's garden in Uppsala in Sweden. I collected them last autumn, and have no idea what they are, now idea if they will grow in The Blue Garden.

Today has been seeding day in The Blue Garden. Out on the kitchen veranda I had filled small boxes with soil yesterday, and kept them inside the kitchen overnight to give them some warmth. Now the seeds are potted and the boxes are indoors again - it is still too cold outdoors.

The morning glory seeds were a gift for my birthday from a friend in USA, Avis. Avis know my love for blue :-)

A green house has been on top of my wishlist for my birthday for a couple of years. But now when the birthday finally came (and went), we decided there are so many other things we will do in the garden first, so a green house will wait. At least for now!

I am of stubborn roots

2008-04-16T09:09:00.001-07:00

"I am of stubborn roots". Many years ago I got a first letter from a friend to be, and in her presentation of herself she wrote - I am of stubborn roots. My mother tongue is Norwegian, and here I stumbled upon a new and unknown word to me - stubborn. I couldn't find the word in my dictionary and it took me some time to understand what it meant. When I found out I came to love the word. Stubborn. I am of stubborn roots.

My American friend connected this to her Norwegian heritage, and she might be right. Norwegians are stubborn people. May be that's because of our long, dark and cold winters? What do I know.

When I came over the early chives and the rhubarb fighting their way through the snow, the word stubborn came back to me. There is no better word for the Nordic spring, is there?

Looking up, up, up.......

2008-04-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

During my garden walk I decided not to look down at all the dirty snow and thick ice. Not to look down at all the fallen leaves from last autumn. Isn't it so much better to get a stiff neck from looking up, up, up.......I said to myself.

And so I did.

Birches, pines, spruces, and blue, blue sky, dotted with white here and there. I was lucky timing my walk, snow shower have passed over the blue garden several times during the day.

But now there were no signs of snow, believe me, I even almost forgot that the soles in my old garden shoes are worn paperthin and drank rotten snow like a sponge..........I must remember to change into dry socks as soon as I have finished my writing.

I wish I was a child again. Climbing these trees together with Marta (she did not allow me to take a photo of her climbing today, but here you have one from our cabin last March)

Lifting my eyes up, up, up, and a new world is opening.

Another day will be for looking down and around.........

Yes! The Blue Garden is open for the season!

2008-04-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Blue Furniture is still stored away down in the old doll house, but now it is official, The Blue Garden is open for the season. We are still fighting the snow, and only the sunrays manage to give us some warmth, but we have had our first cup of coffee out in the garden.

That was yesterday, one of those rare Sundays when life showed its best side from every corner. Today we have been back to work, and it seems like the clouds and showers felt they had some spring cleaning to do.
I have started The Blue Garden's 2008 Chronicle, and every millimeter of growth of every single plant in the garden is written down - at least these first days of spring.

Marta digged deep in her wardrobe and found a sleeveless top and a jeans shorts from last summer. In between "helping the snow to melt" she let her bare feet and arms bathe in sun.

A Sunday morning walk in early spring.

2008-04-13T01:34:00.000-07:00

When I opened my eyes this morning I was met by the sun shining through our north faced window. The days are getting long now with daylight from the wee hours of the morning. I know more frost will be coming for a couple of months still, but this night was without frost - which was good for me as I forgot to take in my flower basket.

Signs of spring are everywhere in the garden. Daffodill bulbs praising light, sempervivum still seeking some warmth under a quilt of last year's leaves but slowly, slowly starting its growth, a bird house with a To Let sign (may be I must ask Marta to paint one), a sunny terracce inviting me, my book and my pot of fresh brewed coffee out, a basket filled with old garden magazines......

The gardener is awak again.

2008-04-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

Leirfivel, hestehov, tussilago farfara (latin) - this first spring flower has alot of different names. In a few weeks we will call in a weed. These days it is the first playful sign of a coming spring and summer.

I am reading garden books and magazines, I have planted the first seeds indoors, a small round table and two café chairs have found their place in the terrace and I am back to my daily garden walks (still dancing my steps in between patches of snow.

I love this time of the year.

Seek and You Shall Find

2008-04-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Seek and You Shall Find.......I wonder if Jesus had a Norwegian early spring garden in mind when he said these words. The Blue Garden is situated up on the hills above Trondheim, and though the snow has melted downtown and near the fjord, we still have alot of snow to struggle with here. Something my husband is happy about, he can still cross country ski most afternoons.

We are having nice and springlike weather these days though, so after dinner I decided to do a little "seek and you shakk find" game outdoors. We cover most of our flower beds with pinebranches during the winter months, and when I lifted a few of them today I found that everywhere under the green needles, bulbs are eager to seek light. Tulips and narcissuses are everywhere. In a few weeks time now I can invite you to a colour feast.

Seek and You Shall Find. I am back to my daily garden walks routine.........

Welcome

2008-04-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

My garden is one of my main sources of refilling energy into my veins. My old neighbour couldn't wait longer and is out today, in the midst of the snow, starting her garden spring clean. I am saying to myself that my book has priority untill April 10th, after that date I am going to do like my dear neighbour...........Meanwhile I have been over to the garden center to buy some welcoming blue. Passers by will now know that they are welcome to the blue garden.

And readers of this blog should know that my garden hibernating is over.

I am awake!

Patience is not my word.

2008-04-05T06:50:00.000-07:00

At this time of the year I am always impatient. There is always too much snow out in the garden, the days can't get mild enough. And I share mt impatience with life growing deep down in the slowly melting soil. And I share my impatience with the birds. They do their very best to teach me how to enjoy these long spring days. With singing. They wake me early every morning with their triumphant song, and their tunes follow my day. A wonderful praise of life.

The snow has started to melt and I can walk around the house now. But still most of our property is covered in a dirty, white quilt.

Leaving this for Italy

2008-03-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

It is snowing again today. Alot. In between the showers I've been out in the garden with my Nikon though, and hidden under some fir branches, on the edge of the snow, a few snowdrops are struggling for their lives. Stubborn, filled with a strong will to meet the sun and light of spring.

Most of the garden is still covered deep in snow. How long will we have to wait for spring? Well, my mind is wandering southwards. Tomorrow morning I fly down to Italy for two weeks. And somwehere in my suitcase I find room for a garden book; Digging Deep, Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening by Fran Sorin.

I will not update this blog during my vacation but hope to write a few updates over at The House in the Woods.

Lovely Spring Days

2008-03-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of March, the first spring month here in Norway, and though the snow is still knee deep (an alot more) through most of the garden, there are also signs of spring to be found.

After a long and dark winter I am again out every day in my boots and with my dear friend Nikon to accompany me. (I am out every day during winter also, but the snow then often limit my garden walks to fill the bird and squirrel feeders only). Signs of spring, though often well hidden, can be found everywhere. I rejoice in every single miracle.

We've had several mild and sunny days, and today was my first day out on the porch. In my rocking chair, with a quilt, a book, a cup of tea and a piece of bread. Ingrid came out to chat, and I had a couple of phonecalls from dear friends. The world is alive!

It is time to read The Secret Garden - again.

Photos: The Blue Garden this morning.

Early Spring Details

2008-03-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

Winter Sun

2008-03-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

Looking out my kitchen window this morning the sun was already up, and I knew this would be a perfect day out in the snow. The garden is still totally covered in deep snow, so I put my new lightweight goretex boots on and went out for a hike in the nearby woods.

We are going to Italy for Easter, and yesterday I bought new boots for my Italian hikes.

Garden colours indoors.

2008-02-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

The winters here at Huseby are long and cold. Snow and ice is what you find out in the garden, and there is not much to write about for a gardener. besides I've been very busy at work so maintaining my main blog has been enough these past weeks.

But days are getting longer and temperatures milder, and I am longing for spring.

So what do I do then? I buy daffodils to enjoy indoors and I read about gardens and flowers. A friend in Cornwall sent me a book for Christmas; Golden Harvest. The story of Golden Harvest. The story of daffodil growing in Cornwall and the isles of Scilly by Andrew Tompsett. A lovely book sparkling with the yellows of thousands of daffodils.

I'm going to take the night train down to Oslo tonight. And if I can't sleep I will be surrounded by flowering words.

Scenes from a Winter Garden

2008-01-27T13:19:00.001-08:00

The taste of a snowflake.

2008-01-25T10:07:00.001-08:00

Have you ever closed your eyes and pointed out your tongue to taste a snow flake?

Torgeir, our oldest son, had volunteered to make dinner last night. A late dinner, unlike when we usually eat. But 8 o'clock was what suited all of us. When he started his work in the kitchen he realised that Marta and her friend had eaten the noddles he had planned to use in his wok. Starting late he was in a hurry to finish....Ingrid had an appointment as soon as we had eaten.

While Torgeir started to cut the vegetables I walked over to the grocery store for more nuddles.
It was snowing heavily. The perfect time to taste snowflakes

Now it is time......

2008-01-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

It is time to visit the garden centers and to read the seed catalogues. What I especially love is to look at the colours and plan how I want to design the colours in my garden this year. I will saw the first seeds in two weeks. Some which will give red flowers. The first week of Lent is a red week in The House in the Woods.

Greeted by the moon

2008-01-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

A pale winter moon greeted me when I came home from work today.

A pink sky floated over the playhouse.

Growing light, my vitamins these days.

The Beauty of Snow

2008-01-20T01:12:00.001-08:00

Blue sky.

Growing daylight.

Snow.

The beauty of winter can be divine.

.....and indoors I read garden books and seed catalogues......

Guess what I found today! A Britt-Arnhild flower :-)

2008-01-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

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Some days are vulnerable days.

I had one of those today,

but then an angel dusted some love on me

and sent me a flower through bloglandia.......

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A Britt -Arnhild Flower :)
A Blue Hyacinth flower to go with Britt Arnhilds Blue blogs.I have just been reading her many blogs about food, opera, and the garden. They are full of lovely warm storys. The house in the woods has 800 posts with lovely photos to illustrate the prose. Not bad for someone whos first language is Norwegion.http://brittarnhildshouseinthewoods.typepad.com/brittarnhilds_house_in_th/The Blue Cafe is here:http://thebluecafe.blogspot.com/And finally the Blue Garden with some dreamy winter pictures of snow and tree branches:http://brittarnhildsbluegarden.blogspot.com/Someone who blogs almost as much as me. Hope you all check her lovely blogs out :)

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This is cut and pasted from David's blog

Snappy's Garden blog

(with his permission)

Some blue in the white......and other colours waiting.

2008-01-13T02:58:00.000-08:00

My Yew.

2008-01-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

We have a yew tree between the blue garden and the road outside.

Late last autumn we discovered alot of small red berries on it.

Yew, or "barlind" as it is called in Norway, was a new tree to me when we moved in here 6 years ago. Over the years I have come to love it; the green it gives us all year, the privacy it gives from life outside the garden, the way it gives shelter to birds and squirrels, the shade it gives when I sit at the Blue Table writing my reflections.

There is a Yew-tree, pride of Lorton Vale,

Which to this day stands single, in the midst

Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore;

Not loth to furnish weapons for the bands

Of Umfraville or Percy ere they marched

To Scotland's heaths; or those that crossed the sea

And drew their sounding bows at Azincour,

Perhaps at earlier Crecy, Poictiers.

Of vast circumference and gloom profound

This solitary tree! a living thing

Produced too slowly ever to decay;

Of form and aspect too magnificent

To be destroyed"

William Wordsworth
Inspired by the magnificent Yew at Lorton, Cumbria.
The girth of this tree was measured as 27 ft in 1806.

Today half the trunk remains (19 ft circumference).

More information about yew here.

.....so instead I make a garden indoors.

2008-01-09T13:49:00.001-08:00

You are so right Barbara. The only thing a gardener can do at this time of the year is to wait :-)

The waiting will be long up here though, so I fill the indoor of my house with flowering plants.

No use waiting for spring yet.........

2008-01-08T13:15:00.001-08:00

Living in Norway means that there is winter many months of the year. It is not like in Narnia though as it was the first time Lucy and her siblings came there, with winter all year, and no Christmas. Can you imagine! You all know that in our house we celebrate Christmas the big way. But now Christmas is only a fading memory, the days are getting longer and my mind is turing against spring. Though spring is still a long time away... I couldn't resist photographing a few of my empty flowerpots. They are on the veranda right outside the kitchen. When summer comes they will all be filled with bright and colourful herbs.
I plan a rainbow garden this year. Will plant seeds which will give flowers in all colours during the period of lent, and it will be a reminder of the rainbow God set in the sky. The rainbow which is God's sign of hope.

Books for Christmas.

2008-01-03T13:03:00.000-08:00

Books are the best gifts I can get for Christmas. This Christmas I got quite alot and have hours of great and interesting reading ahead of me. During the past summers I've spent more and more time out in the garden, and this growing interest takes me to garden books and magazines during the cold months. Therefore it was a wonderful surprise to get a garden book from a good friend spending a year overseas. Digging Deep, Unearthing your Creative Roots through Gardening by Fran Sorin.The garden is dead and frosen these days. Even my garden blog is almost sleeping. But reading about Sorin's six stages of creative unfolding - imagining, planning, planting, tending, enjoying and completing..........I am counting the weeks now till I can start gardening again.

A low sun.

2008-01-01T11:44:00.001-08:00

The cold wintersun is so low these weeks it only reaches the top of the trees in the back garden.
I keep on dreaming of a spring and a summer which bring life to the garden.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2007-12-31T02:13:00.000-08:00

A year is coming to an end

2007-12-30T03:34:00.000-08:00

It is still a dark and lifeless period in the garden. Life is there of course, but it is sleeping deep down in the soil. I was given several garden books for Christmas and spend my days dreaming of the spring garden, the summer garden, the autumn garden. Winter days and winter nights are for garden dreams.

The squirrels are alive and awake all winter though, and they are busy stuffing their soft bodies with the sunflower seeds from the feeder.

I love watching. Both the squirrels and the birds. The St.Francis birds as Rebecca beautifully calls them.

2007-12-24T02:26:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

I send you my Christmas greetings with this Christmas car filled with gift.
As our tradition is, we decorated our tree yesterday, on "lille julaften" (Little Christmas Eve). We always do this together as a family, using ornaments we have collected through our 28 years of marriage. Most of them are handmade, and the girls find them a bit out of date. This year they had a wish - "Mom, can we decorate the tree with more modern stuff? You are always so old fashioned, sometimes we wonder if you were born before God!"
Now I have been to the Salvation Army's shop and bought 50 shining red baubles, and everyone loves the tree.
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We are preparing for breakfast now. For lunch we will have rice porridge with one almond hidden and a gift for the one who finds the almond. Later comes church and home to the traditional Christmas dinner, opening of gifts and dancing around the tree singing the old carols. The day will end with all of us wrapped up in comfort blankets around the fire with new books and cds.

The darkest day

2007-12-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, on the darkest day of the year, I was finally home when it was light enough in the garden for photos. Alot of the snow has melted now, and what is left is transformed to hard ice. But now the sun has turned and we are looking forward to lighter days.

The sun is too low to reach the garden these days, only the top of the pines can see it.

Pages from my book.

2007-12-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

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- the book will be only in Norwegian (though of course if you all write to IKO (my publisher is the second one), they might think otherwise

- it is my first book- it is hardcover and in full colour print

- it can be ordered from IKOs webshop in a couple of weeks

- the title of the book is "40 dager - fra karneval til oppstandelse" (40 days - from carneval to the rising )

- yes, I have started my second book......more about that later

Ready to warm us.

2007-12-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

The logs are lined up outside the playhouse, ready to give us comfort and warmth. It is the darkest days of the year, dark when I leave for work, dark when I come home again in the afternoons. Gardening these days means reading magazines, books and seed catalogues, and dreaming about days and nights to come. There is not much time for dreams though, it is the most busy time in The Blue Café.

Capability Brown

2007-12-15T02:33:00.000-08:00

While the Blue Garden sleeps under a cold blanket of snow, I enjoy reading about other gardens and garden designers. In a Danish Christmas magazine from last year, GARDEN Living, I find an article about Capability Brown, the Bristish garden designer who is said to be responsible from alot of what we today see as the typical English landscape. Lancelot "Capability" Brown was born into a labour family in Northumbria in 1716, he went to school and aged 16 he started as a gardener apprentice. Blenheim Palace is a place where you can see the result of his genius planning of a garden. Anwich Castle is another place. I have never been to Blenheim, but I enjoyed walking in the Anwick park last summer, enjoying the serene beauty.

St, Barbara's Day

2007-12-05T12:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, December 4th, was St.Barbara's Day in Germany. I learned about this tradition some years ago though my friend Gabi. Every year on this day she cuts a branch from her forsythia. The branch is placed in water, indoors, and is supposed to bloom on Christmas day. My forsythia is new, from this summer, and still too small to cut any branches. So I decided to cut a small branch from my cherry tree instead. The cherry tree is also still very small, but it gave me one branch :-)

Barbara, the daughter of the rich merchant Dioscuros, grew up in Nikomedia (today's Izmet, Turkey). In order to retain her innocence, Barbara's father locked her up during his absence, in a tower with only two windows. When Dioscuros returned from his journey, he found the third window in the tower. Barbara was baptized by a priest disguised as a physician, and she ordered to make the third window as a symbol of the Holy Trinity.
As it was done against her father's will, Barbara was accused, tortured and condemned to death. A branch of cherry tree had gotten caught in its dress, when she was locked into the dungeon. Barbara watered it with the water from her drinking cup, and on the day of her execution which the angry father had personally made (in the winter of 306), the branch bloomed.. From this comes the "Barbarazweig," the custom of bringing branches into the house on December 4 to bloom on Christmas. In some areas St. Barbara's is also the day to bake Kletzenbrot (a fruit cake).

The information about St. Barbara Day is taken from here.

Amaryllis

2007-12-04T00:21:00.000-08:00

With all the white snow outdoors, it is also nice at this time of the year to decorate with a little white indoors. Since it is advent all my candles are in purple, so this shining white amaryllis stands out with its own beauty and charm.

I bought the amaryllis bulb a few weeks ago with the idea in my mind that it would be a perfect flower for Christmas. Well, the amaryllis grew too fast for me, and is giving me its charm and scent during advent instead.

I have just been out the garden to feed the birds. We have had a couple of very cold days, so the snow is hard and icy now. It is a difficult period for the birds, so they are eager when I come with the sunflower seeds, though they have to standing in line, waiting, when the squirrels come. I am watching it all from my studio window.

2007-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

It is advent, the darkest time of the year, when we try to enlighten the short days with alot of indoor candles. My advent wreath is filled with four purple candles, and the first one was lit a few hours early last night, to celebrate the homecoming of our son, from three years of studies in Australia.

My morning was busy, so it was already dark when I walked out in the deep snow in the garden to cut a few branches from a pine tree to decorate the wreath. Walking in deep soft snow gives me a very special feeling, especially when I know I will soon be indoors and can warm my feet in front of the fire.

Advent reflections will be posted every day untill Christmas in my main blog.

Snowy Erikas

2007-11-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

The garden is ready for advent,

though the purple colour of the Erika is hard to see

under the snow cover.

There is an advent party going on

over at

Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods.

Garden moved indoors

2007-11-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

My window sills are perfect places for growing plants during the winter months. Three hyacint bulms have had their first weeks down in a cold room in the basement, and are now moved up into the diningroom. For still one week they will be dressed in green hats, they ¨don't like too much light after their time in a dark basement.

I started to grow them a little late, so I don't think I will have blooming hyacints for Christmas. But January is also a perfect time to fill the house with some sweet, pink fragrance.

Frozen water

2007-11-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

Animals in the garden

2007-11-24T01:39:00.001-08:00

I have been away for some time, so as soon as it was light enough this morning I was eager to go out into the garden. It has been snowing for a couple of days, but today the sky, though grey, is quite bright. The trees are covered in snow and make my world look like a winter wonderland. The first squirrel of the day was already visiting the feeding area, though he had to search in the snow for sunflower seeds as I hadn't filled the feeders yet.

Hidden by the darkness of the night the deers had been searching the garden high and low for something to eat. The snow make winter a hard season for them. They are eating the last roses which were about to bloom when the snow came, but exept fdrom that they don't seem to destroy much in the garden.

Winter activity

2007-11-17T12:31:00.000-08:00

Internet will never take over for real books in my life, neither will emails and blogging comments take over from real letters. The Blue Garden has a blue book where I write down all entries, and glue all photos from The Blue Garden blog. I am behind in the project, but long and dark winter nights are perfect crafting time. With scissors and glue I enjoy looking back on a summer which is now history.

The lavender will survive.

2007-11-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

.....and I have the fragrance in bouquets and small bowls around indoors.

Winter visitor - garden fun.

2007-11-12T13:27:00.000-08:00

Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden. Booktalk in The Blue Garden - 2

2007-11-11T04:52:00.001-08:00

Twice I have visited Gertrude Jekyll's garden on Lindisfarne, the first time in late autumn, the second in early spring. The first time a little too late for the garden to show its best, the second time a little too late. I plan to go back to Lindisfarne next year, and this time in August, and look forward to see what the garden will look like then.

As a gardener and a garden lover I have known about Gertrude Jekyll for years, but it was not untill my Lindisfarne visit this spring that I bought my first book from Gertrude's pen, Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden. And many a summer night was spent out in the Blue Garden reading from this book, learning about how to grow a painting.

The colours of the Blue Garden are covered under a white quilt now, but the dreams of a next year and another colourful painting lives in me, and trough long, dark winter nights Gertrude Jekyll walks with me in my dreams.

Snowy fairyland.

2007-11-10T01:52:00.001-08:00

This is what I see from my studio window today. I was out as soon as it was light enough to fill the feeders and to take photos. Now I can enjoy it all from a cosy room of my own.

The smell of a sweet foccaccia in the owen makes my stomack cry, and to make time pass I am working on some felted ornaments for Christmas. Somehow the snow fills me with inspiration. The studio is transformed to an artist's workshop.

everlasting leaves

2007-11-09T09:27:00.001-08:00

Before the maple leaves were all gone I saved a few and pressed them.

Now they will be everlasting memories of a colourful autumn.

Some will be made into cards and mailed around the world.

Let me know if you want a card.

Mostly indoors

2007-11-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

I miss garden life.

These days I run out in the mornings to feed the birds and squirrels, and that's about all I see of the garden.

Though one morning earlier this week I went to work a little late,

and it was light enough for a few snow shoots.

The autumn decoration outside the play house looks Christmassy

sprinkeled in snow white.

One of the squirrels has been out before me.

The leeks are surviving a little snow
and will keep on giving flavour and vitamins
to Blue Café dinners.

Cuttings

2007-11-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

When the weather prevents me from garden fun, there is still alot to do indoors. Like potting a few cuttings. I now have two more plants to help survibe the winter. One is a geranium from a plant I bought this spring, the other is a lemon geranium cutting I took Taking cuttings is not stealing, is it.....) from one of the green houses in the botanical garden in Padova.

Early with her preparations?

2007-11-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

Is the rhododendron a she? I think mine is anyway :-) And like so many shes, she is early with her preparations. Buds are already formed and will now sleep through cold and darkness, to eventually open into huge, pink beauties next spring.

Booktalk in The Blue Garden 1

2007-11-04T05:49:00.000-08:00

I have a basket filled with garden magazines and books. In the summer this basket often find its way outdoors, and in between garden work I sit down to get some new inspiration, or read stories written by other gardeners. Outdoor life is history in The Blue Garden for this year, but the basket has alot of new books. On Sundays I have a booktalk over at Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods, and with winter just around the corner it is the perfect time to start a booktalk tradition here in The Blue Garden as well. So put the tea kettle on, wrap yourself in a favorite quilt and come travel with me to the land of garden books.

Barbara wrote about The Essence of the Garden by Hannah Willets some time ago. I did a search on amazon and didn't hesitate long before I ordered a copy. It arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and now I spend long, dark autumn nights enjoying Hannah Willets musings from her Shropshire garden. A perfect bedside reading, and at the same time filled with information and descriptions. I wish I could compose symphonias with words like Willet does.

Rain or shine

2007-11-03T02:28:00.000-07:00

Rain or shine, the garden needs its man and its woman. Snow is coming and going every second day now, though luckily no frost yet. There were still some pots waiting to be emptied before the long darkness sets in, and today was the day we had to do it. Raining cats and dogs? No, it was raining elephants, but as born stubborn Norwegians, rain doesn't prevent us. We just wear wellingtons and waterproof jakets, raise our shoulders up above our ears and are ready to meet any task.

Some of the clay pots have been hosting annuals this summer. I gathered the plants in a corner under a fir tree down in the backyard, where Terje covered them in a thick quilt of fir branches. Hopefully the plants will make it through the winter months and can be planted out - somewhere - next spring.

Because of all the snow we get during the winter, we carry all pots inside the garage in autumn, but first a cleaning prosess was essential. Icy cold water from the pipe and icy cold water from the sky.

Now we are back inside and I am baking a sweet foccaccia. As soon as it is finished I'll make a huge pot of coffee and we can get some warmth again.

Through my studio window

2007-11-02T04:25:00.001-07:00

I was out this morning photographing the virgin snow which came during the night, and had planned to show a few of the photos here. I lifted my eyes from the computer screen and looked out my studio window - and here is what I saw.

Two mooses passing just outside the window. Having my Nikon at hand it was easy to get these photos.

You don't need to travel far and wide when you live in The House in the Woods, excitement can be found both inside and outside the studio window.

Every season.......

2007-11-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

I am a summer girl. The Nordic summers are never too hot not to be comfortable, the light is on all night and the colours are divine through our summer months. But walking in the garden a morning before work in this red light I have no problem in admitting that every season has its charm.

I was out this morning with my usual ration of sunflower seeds for the birds and animals which visit daily, some of the creatures have even moved into the garden and can't be called visitors any more, when this warm, glowing red light filled the air.

Lucily my camera wasn't far away, and though the colours on a photo can never be the same as real life, I think you here can get a good image.

We have had several snow showers already this autumn, but every time the snow has melted in a few hours. And luckily no deep frost yet. I still have winter preparations to finish, and hope to find time for that this week-end.

Welcome trick and treaters.

2007-10-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

Short Days

2007-10-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

It is dark when I walk to the bus stop in the morning, dark when I come home from work in the afternoon. My daily garden walk is a memory from lighter, longer and warmer days. The garden is going to sleep, just like the bears, through the winter. Though the sleep will be filled with dreams of another spring and another summer. I am a dreamer, and a Nordic gardener is forced to live on dreams months of the year. Dreams of seeds to buy, dreams of new beds to make, dreams of colour combinations to try out and dreams of laughter in a garden which never goes to sleep.

Though being a gardener still is something you are all year round. I still fit in my daily garden walk, if only to feed the birds and the squirrels. I read garden books, I visit garden blogs, I buy garden magazines, I write letters to other gardeners around the world, I draw plans for what we will do in the garden next summer, and I write invitations for my BIG 50th which will be celebrated in The Blue Garden next summer.

Photos: the playhouse is ready for Halloween. While I write this, Terje and Marta are busy in the kitchen making a pumpkin ready for trick and treaters. And through the house flows the fragrance of freshly baked sweet rolls which will be our treats for those who come.