Skansen: Roses and Herbs

Recently I've been to Sweden and decided to visit Skansen, the first open-air museum in Sweden, located on an island in Stockholm, capital of Sweden. Skansen was opened in 1891 to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era. The museum is  big so I have naturally chosen the most interesting areas to me: the Rose garden and the Herb garden. 
Rose garden was created in 1964. In the center of the Rose garden the statue of Carl Linnaeus welcomes the visitors. He was the great botanist and scientist of 18th century. There are some fifty species of roses in the garden, mostly older sorts such as bush roses, park roses, wild roses and climbing roses.

The roses were beautiful and smelled pleasantly therefore I would spend much time there but I wanted to see the Herb garden as well.
The Herb Garden contains some one hundred herbs, medicinal plants and decorative plants that have a long history. In the 1890s a small kitchen garden with about 50 edible plants was created here, in which the most common types of grain, forage and domestic plants were represented. A new, somewhat larger herb garden was laid out in 1914 on the same site.
I tried to take photos including the labels because I didn't know some herbs and could only recognize the most popular herbs.

Physalis alkekengi or Chinese lantern

Allium schoenoprasum or wild Chives

Basilicum ocimum or Basil

Peppermint

Myrrhis odorata or Sweet chervil

Hyssopus or Hyssop

Tanacetum balsamita or Costmary

Ruta graveolens or Rue

Melissa or Lemon balm

Cochlearia or Scurvy herb

Here are 10 of the 50 herbs, I am well aware Basil and Peppermint that I grow in my garden. Other herbs I could only recall the names, maybe somewhere I heard about them. Do you use herbs for cooking or treatment? Do you know other herbs or grow them in your garden?


source: Skansen gardens

Garden Bloggers' Day: MId-September

Although it is already the middle of September, the weather is quite warm: +20 C in the daytime and +12 C at night. Plants rejoice the warmth, but the cold rain and wind will soon come to us.
I have just arrived after a short vacation on the Baltic Sea and did not expect to see my garden such blooming. Large red-pinky-creamy inflorescence of Hydrangea paniculata were visible from the porch. The rose 'The Fairy' is still blooming next to Spiraea 'Golden flame'.

As always in autumn bulbs of Colchicum sprout their purple bells. It's unique time when this plant is in bloom. Despite on this flower is so pretty, all parts of it are extremely poisonous. 

Hostas decorate the front garden, phlox has surprised me with such a long blooming.

The rose ' F J Grootendorst'  has finally come to her senses and blossomed. 

In the spring I thought it was completely dead, there were a few leaves on its branches. Now you see its dark red flowers that remind Carnation.
Сlematis 'Justa' (on Virginia creeper) and white flowers of Cosmos show white colors in the garden.

Of course, I want to show you, my friends, the harvest of fruit and vegetables. This autumn has given a lot of apples, plums and patissons. Here they are on the branches ...

and here apples, plums and patissons are already collected. I will make jam and canned patissons.

I wish you all joyous September, beautiful and bright flowers in your garden!

This Summer Dahlias

My dahlias began to bloom from the end of August and continue blooming so far. I was waiting for their flowers in mid-August but they bloomed later. Truly to say every autumn I think: 'I won't store Dahlias tubers anymore in the city apartment, as they get dried and die during storing'....
But when I see new Dahlia leaves I forget my doubts. So let's see their blooming this summer.

There are annual dahlias that are easy in growth. One can grow them from seed or buy seedlings in a garden center. This spring I did buy the seedlings because there were no space on the windowsills for more sowing :-) They were not expensive and it was mix of annual dahlias. Here they are:

Now in September, when many other flowers have disappeared, and the roses have almost finished their flowering, the dahlias adorn the garden, adding bright colors. I hope that they will blossom when the first frost or low temperature comes. 
Perhaps I would decide to keep Dahlia tubers. Or not? "To be or not to be is a question," as Shakespeare said. :-)