Terrace Garden - Beautiful Garden on the Slope in June

Today I invite you for a long pottering around my friend's garden. We have already visited that garden on the slope in the winter, just looking at the pictures from the past. You may view them here. This is the best example how difficult garden on the slope can be a blessing. Why? It makes smashing effects, that are difficult to achieve on the flat ground in the garden.

Let's go... This is really interesting, that just 30 meters after you enter the front gate you see steps down taking you to the house. On the left we see something new: newly constructed winter garden. I can't imagine how beautiful it will be after finishing and ready to use. Knowing talents of Krystyna, if will be something very special.... By now, let me take your hand... and let's go to see that piece of heaven....

... slowly going the stairs down.... on the right you see how tall is the bank. There is mainly evergreens planted mixed with some perenials like hostas. It was not easy to encourage plants to grow there, cos every rain was trying to flush everything down..... Krystyna's patience made it repairing, planting back, talking to them and this is how it looks today.

... after going down the stairs and turning back, you see the bank in full charm.... have a closer look at the plant the right: this are 2 willows inoculated on one body. One is creeping and second is Hakuro nishiki - looks very interesting, right?

... here Juniperus of different species rulez! ....

... you see the willow-doubledecker :) and also on the top right corner the bluest of the bluest Picea (pungens 'Hoopsi')
... this is how the stairs look or rather how they are hiding in the green, when you look from further perspective. I am thinking how many years it took to get this effect? 7-8 as I remember.


... let me introduce you to one of the inhabitants of rather indoor space: this is 'Zielony' (means 'Green') Iguana iguana - as you can see fully enchanted by Krystyna. She spent a lot of time to tame that wild animal and she made it. You can touch it without being eaten alive!
... but 'Zielony' feels most comfortable with her - see how he keeps looking at me and controls what I am doing with that weird shining metal thing in my hands?

... we had of course, a great dinner together.

.... on the porch there is many, many charming pots... I will not show all of them, because then we would have no time to see the rest of the garden....

... so we start to see the second level of the garden from the porch... pond... next levels down and almost not visible lake in the background...

... left side of the pond is a good place for seasonal planting...

... pond is almost filled with plants, so it doesn't need additional filtering... plants do their job....

.... stairs is something you can't miss in this garden, cos they are everywhere.... light green color of the fern and orange blooming azalea look very cheering up together...
.... same stairs far view from longer distance... and we are already on the third level...

Rumex sanguineus var. sanguineus - very interesting perenial.

From the second level we see the stairs to the third level....

... wooden bench with Taxus baccata 'Repandens' on the right and Anemone hupehensis in the back - it will look even better when it starts to bloom in July ...

.... stairs to the fourth level - view from up....

... and view from down ....

.... and this time no stairs, just a path to the fifth level guarded by two willows Hakuro nishiki ...

... when you look back this is how fourth level looks like....

... fourth level - oh my! how she can walk up and down while gardening with all the tools... what if you forget something? I often do. Do you?
Yes... fourth level has one more bank down.... and there is currently built stone stairs...
... Stairs by Krystyna's husband Krzysztof - big bravissimo for YOU Krzysztof :)
... then if you want and still feel not too tired, we may go for a walk at the lake ...

... after that long walk, I guess we are all tired, but happy. To induce it even more, let's have some chocolate and get even more happy from that huge dose of magnesium... on the picture you see a chocolate fountain - if you want to spoil you guests, that's the fancy device, that makes everyone happy. You plug it, place chocolate in, warm it up.... and that's it. There is a lot of cheering up around, cos it is not easy to eat... so have fun!
Thank you for that long excursion....
Cheers,
Ewa

Arte Y Pico award came to Ewa in the Garden and goes to....

This beautiful award came to me directly from Violet blogging wonderfully about gardening, life (and lately football also) in Croatia. If you are interested, have a look here: Lady Greenthumb's Garden.
I am very grateful for the award - I love it! Isn't it nice to be noticed? You get noticed, feel better - positive vibes are spreading and you pass the vibes to the next ones. And Good Vibes will return to you :) This is how it works in the Universe... so....

My award goes to 5 blogs that are outstanding: Please be so kind and accept it. If you pass it or not, that's up to you of course.

1/ Kathryn at PlantWhateverBringsYouJoy from California - written by 'light pen' Kathryn - very witty and cheerful with many beautiful pictures. When I read it, I feel Kathryn smiling :) Thank you Kathryn, that I found your blog and you feed my hunger for Good Vibes.

2/ Victoria at Teachings of the Horse - very insightful and interesting blog of a lady who is taking care of horses. Nice to read even for somebody, that is not too much interested with horses, but if you are - this blog is 'a must' to read.

3/ Minerva at Retirement Merry Go Round - blog of very interesting lady that left Poland in 80ties and then was living in many different countries. Currently since few months living in Puerto Rico. Sharp pen, interesting observations and also a good example of what you could do after you retire, when you don't want to spend rest of your life in front of TV. Thank you Minerva, did I tell you before that I admire you?

4/ Barbara at Abenteuer Garden - blog about the garden full of roses, in Switzerland. Barbara is amazing lady who finds the beauty in daily things or daily ordinary life. She takes care of her garden alone and has many beautiful roses over there. Blog is in English and German, so if you would like to improve your German, that's the place :)

5/ Yoanis at Generation Y - definately off the gardening and beauty topics, but amazing and currently hottest blog in blogosphere from Cuba. If you want to read a blog of somebody who doesn't have a direct access to internet, and despite of that found the way and also got Jose Ortega y Gasset award of 'El Pais' in Spain - very prestigious journalists award.

The origin of the Arte y Pico Award: "This prize has arisen from the daily visits that I dedicate to many blogs which nourish me and enrich me with creativity. In them I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, ART, much art. I want to share this prize with all those bloggers that entertain me day to day and to share this prize with those who enrich me every day. Doubtlessly, there are many and it will be hard to pick just a few. The people I will name today deserve this prize, as do the very long serious list of bloggers I also enjoy to read. But I will name the first 10 and leave the rest of the work to all the bloggers that visit other's blogs and are nourished by them."

Here are the rules, if you decide to pass the award further to remarkable blogs in blogosphere worth to mention:

The rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.
4. Please include a link to the “Arte Y Pico” blog so that everyone will know where the award came from.
5. Show these rules.

Thank you!!

Utilizing ब्यूटी of roses

... that is immediately bringing another question to mind 'does everything has to be utilized?' The beauty of roses is unquestionable, but considering growing population of human kind, shrinking natural resources, will 'only beauty' be allowed in the future?

Pink shoes from previous post made me remember pink roses and unique chance to make my own decadent luxurious rose confiture. Woman make something unusual! It was unusual for me :)


Petals need to be collected from the site that is very clean, not sprayed chemically etc. If you use chemicals in your garden, you can not pick petals of your own roses. Maybe that would be a reason to look for different ways to help plant fight with pests. I found mine in the neighbourhood, in the forest.
The view, the touch and the scent of collected petals are - believe me - very sensual. Even for that experience, every minute of the time spend on collecting it, is worth more than we could imagine..... and it doesn't cost much.... my feminine need for pleasure and luxurious moments was fully pleased in that magic moment of having the scent while sinking my hands in rose petals... Entire kitchen was filled with rose scent...

It might be difficult to collect at one time enough of them, but you may store it for some time in the fridge and wait until more can be picked.

Which roses to use? All fragrant pink and red. They all are suitable. Connoisseurs are cutting off the white bottoms of the petals, claiming its bitterness. I did't and I do not feel any bitterness.

The recipe that I have used: collect petals, put them in the bowl and cover with cold water for some time to clean it from dust and all other living creatures, that have admired its beauty while we came and have disturbed :)

Then dry them, or remove the water as much as you can and place it in the pot. Add sugar, lemon juice and fry for 30-40 minutes. Voila!

Proportions: measure the amount of petals by cups - they should be pretty packed with them.

1 cup of sugar

3 cups of petals

1 big spoon of lemon juice

Cheers,

Ewa

Brugmansia and green backyards in aristocratic district of Warsaw Poland

.... while some of us are seeking something sweet and kicking ......

..... the others are having new sweet shoes.... that will take us for a short walk in the most aristocratic in the past and most expensive today district of Warsaw....

..... first we see seciession antique apartment house in Mokotowska street.....

..... then secret backyard's patios ...

... ''pink shoes" walkes us places, I would probably not see coming as tourists ...

.... going out we see again old apartment house....

.... and something very special! beautiful large brugmansia... I saw many of them before....
... but none made such impression... do you see the pots? ...

.... it makes the difference .... even staking looks elegant :)

'Pink shoes' got a headache, so we went home.....

Ewa in the Garden in Christian Science Monitor

Just for the archive :) 

Poor, poor me and Last Call to Robinia

2 years ago my garden had just few bigger plants and when one of them: 3 m tall, old shrub of Deutzia (I suppose) was killed by unusual cold (-33C) that came in the winter, I was very very sad. That time I decided to not plant anything that is just on the border of hardiness. It is 6 zone here, so it is advised to plant maximum 5th zone hardy plants. I went further and chose 4th as basic standard :) it is difficult to keep, but if I have a choice, I choose more hardy plant.

My killed shrub looked very sad entire spring 2006 - tall, beige (that's natural color, made it even worse) naked branches, while green was exploding around.

I was waiting, waiting and waiting....

In MAY decided to remove it, as there was no sign of life. I cut down branches, but removing stump was too hard. At the ground it was something like 50 cm in diameter, so I asked my son for help. He tried, but being the city boy and not being accustomed with such jobs, and also not having proper tools, he gave up after few trials.

Stump was waiting for somebody else.... maybe my husband... or some rented force....

One day, at the end of JUNE while passing the place, what was my surprise to see the stump 'decorated' with two 30 cm tall FRESH and GREEN shoots!! It decided to live with us! I was so happy!

Today it is bigger that 2 shoots - mabe 20 already and this year it is blooming, what you can see on the picture above. Lovely, light pink flowers are covering the stems - I am very happy to see it in good shape :) So, it was worth to wait...

Here we come to new case, little different, but little similar, eh.....

The naked body you see here belongs to Robinia Umbraculifera. Thinking of previous case, I was giving it time till the end of JUNE to show any sign of life, especially that I have checked the body and it seems to be alive, but no leaves. Dead or not dead?
Remove it or not? It doesn't look very pretty - naked thin, tall stick in the middle of the garden.... but I wait... 'good gardener always gives last chance to the plant'....

It was transplanted it in October last year, to give it enough time to get used to new place before winter. I was thinking it will be enough, especially that I have bought it with bare roots just 7 months before... there was also almost no winter this year.... so, in my understanding no reason to be offende... right?

I am frustrated, cos I loved the appearence of the hairy mop head and the leaves dancing at even lightest wind!! We did all to give comfort at removal and watered enough....

Litttle hope appeared... after cutting few branches last week, it popped up some leaves ... on the body! One meter from ground! C'mon guy! I don't want on the body, I want on the head! I pinched leaves, cos who wants robinia umbraculifera with hairy body?
I wait for the upper part to start to show some interest with the world....

Do you think I shall have hope? or what shall I do?