Balcony

Back in June, it was too hot to spend much time on my balcony (facing south-west). Nearly all July, on the other hand, it's been too wet/windy/chilly... So basically all I use it for is to go out for a few minutes now and then to check on my plants. I have some flowering ones in individual pots to be able to move them around, and those can also be hung on the railing. They're too exposed to wind and rain on the railing, though, so they've remained sitting on the bench against the wall all July (and most of June too, but then because of the extreme heat and drought!). So they still need some manual watering. They seem happy with that arrangement, though.

 

In the blue pot is a cherry tomato plant. One has to look close to see the fruits as they're not ripe yet, but there are a few hiding among the leaves. They usually need watering too, because they're fairly protected from the rain in that position.

The strawberry plants would no doubt prefer a bit more sun for the berries to ripen properly; but otherwise they're very hardy, and having one box of those on each side of the balcony kind of gives it a green "frame" for myself (looking out from my window) even when I have nothing on the front railing.

In the strawberry box on the other side of the balcony I have a solar light that comes on the evenings. (Looks nice when looking out at it from inside, too...)

Looking up at the sky, one evening in early July.

Mother Ficus and her Babies

 

I somehow forgot to take photos of this Ficus (elastica decora, also known in English as India rubber plant) before I radically cropped it a couple of months or so ago. It had grown almost as high as the window. Its stem was bit crooked and the small pot in which it was planted was now almost tipping over from the weight of it. The tree had to lean against the window to keep upright. It also had never been replanted in a bigger pot or even had any new soil added for I-don't-know-how-long. It kept growing anyway.

But it had now reached a height that suggested something had to be done anyway. So finallly I radically cut it down to about a third of its size. From what I cut off, I took two cuttings and put those in water. One was the top of the plant, one just a piece of the stem. Somewhat to my surprise, the one that was just a piece of the stem (with two leaves) was the one most eager to sprout new roots. The top part proved more reluctant; but a few days ago I planted both of them - even the one on which roots were not yet to be seen (except perhaps as few little white dots at the bottom). So far, neither of them seems to have any protests.

The cropped mother plant (top photo) was replanted in connection with cutting it, and seems happy with that, as it now seems to be producing a couple of new sideways shoots. 

I know that the mother plant in turn was once cropped from an older plant, which I think I had in turn cropped from another...  Actuall I'm no longer sure how many "generations" back to the original plant.

What's unusual about what I'm now calling the Mother is that it never dropped more than one or two its lowest leaves. (Usually they do, when they continue to grow.) Which is why I waited so long to cut it in the first place; and decided to keep the Mother as well.

 

Sleeping Through the Thunderstorm

 

Last night after I went to bed (late, I think after 11 pm) I could hear a thunderstorm going on. I did not get up to look, and the blackout curtains were drawn in my bedroom, so I don't know if there was also lightning to be seen. (The images above are courtesy of Bing Image Creator...)

Not sure when I fell asleep, but I know I woke up and went to the bathroom around 2:30 am. Usually (and especially in summer) I wake up several times during the night - but this morning when I woke and looked at the alarm clock beside my bed (no alarm was set) I was astonished to see that I had slept through until as late as 10:30 am! And I could not recall having been up again after 2:30. If not, that must be the first time in "ages" that I slept a solid eight hours in a row like that (plus probably a couple of hours before 2:30 as well).

July has continued to be rainy and with much cooler temperatures than June. I haven't been out on any great adventures; but the rain has come mostly in showers, so I've usually managed to get out for at least a short walk every day. Apart from a bit of thunder, the whole past weekend was also blissfully quiet. My noisy neighbour must have gone on holiday and taken her screeching bird with her... (I asked Big for illustrations, but I fear I might get sued for defamation if I made those public.) 

Yesterday afternoon, I also fell asleep for a while in my chair, watching TV. I suppose I'm just making up for sleep deprivation earlier during the summer... 

Bing: "Woman enjoying a quiet weekend at home, Carl Larsson style" (The only acceptable image out of eight, and even here the AI is still having problems with details like hands and feet and whatnot... She also looks more tired than enjoying herself; but I can accept that, as it happened to rather fit my own mood...)

 

Buddy Bears

 

A couple of months ago I got a bear card sent to me by one of my blogging friends who has also become a "penpal". The bear on the card looked very much like my "buddy bear" - so I put the card on display next to him, and took these photos, with the intention of blogging about them. I didn't get around to blogging part until now, though.

The Buddy Bears is/was the name of an international art project with exhibitions that went on tour in many countries; including Borås, Sweden in December 2012. I blogged about The Advent of the Buddy Bears back in December 2012. Towards the end of that exhibition I also bought My Very Own Bear - an unpainted miniature copy that came with six mini jars of paint and a brush, for you to paint it yourself. Which I did... Later, I entrusted it with the job of holding my most recently received Postcrossing cards, until I store those away elsewhere. 

Oops, I almost forgot:  I also just tested what the Bing Image Creator would make of the instruction "buddy bear holding up postcards". This is the one I liked best:

 

 

Watching Trees Grow

 

 

 

The Ornäs birch, (Swedish Ornäsbjörk) is a variety of silver birch which is also the national tree of Sweden. (Wikipedia)

The original Ornäs birch was discovered in 1767 in the village of Ornäs, in the central Swedish province of Dalarna. The man who discovered it sent a description of the tree to the University of Uppsala botanist Carl Linnaeus. Cuttings were taken from the original tree, from which all Ornäs birch trees have been propagated. The tree fell in a storm on 26 May 1890. Two new trees were planted in its place, taken from cuttings of the original tree. 

In 1985, the Ornäs birch was named as the national tree of Sweden, and examples have been planted in central locations in Swedish towns from Trelleborg in the south to Kiruna in the north.

The one in our town park here in Borås was planted in 1986 - which happens to be the same year that I moved here to live. So I'm used to just passing it without giving it much thought. But the other day I happened to stop and read that plaque on the stone, and ponder for a bit... No doubt the tree must have been quite small when it was first planted. But having walked by every now and then for 37 years, I can't say I really ever noticed it growing...

I asked the Bing Image Creator for a "woman watching a birch tree grow", and this is what I got: