Briggishome.wordpress

I have gathered my 3 blogs:

Briggis recept och ideer
Briiblog in English
Briggishome


and moved to Wordpress.
So from now you find me under the name of:
briggishome.wordpress.com

Blooming Friday - almost spring?

It is some time I don't write, and I'm sorry.
I thought dividing my blog in three would be a good idea, but it isn't.
one (or two) always is left behind..and that is a pity..special with this one.
the one I wanted to fill with all the beautiful, interesting, incredible things I see
this charming Lake is full of wonders.
in the last months I'm doing full time treeking,
searching for new paths, looking up the old ones
taking new contact, filling up the old ones.

the new season is near, starting at Easter, and there is so much to do.
I want make in time as usual :))
Katarina asks us to find something old , something new..
I can't help it...I feel so enthusiasticly springly new!

during one of my many wandering abouts I've seen the first signs of Spring!!

make my so happy..every year it is the same.
in the middle of the winter, it looks as spring will neve come..
then once, under a bunch of old brown soaked leaves....
primulas, hellebours, small violas and even a little shy bellis!

primula vulgaris


bellis perennis


viola odorata


Helleborus foetidus


and this...I didn't expect two small flowers on a almond tree (amygdalus communis)


enjoy with me!

don't forget to stop by at Katarina's blog and look at all the other bloggers wonders.
(just love the name in Swedish..Rosor och ris! ;)


today the rain poured down, but as this is the most chrming lake in Italy..
this afternoon, the rain stoped,,leaving the lake and the sky grey





and this evening we had another beautiful sunset.



tomorrow will be a nice day, have a nice weekend.

blooming friday - Christmas fireplace decoration

well, the sun is shinig and that doesn't help! :))
to have some real Christmas feeling, it should snow, it should be darker, cooler..
anything than this execeptional weather we have had in the last days! :))
anyway, can't do anything about it...so let's enjoy it! :)

together with my two doughters we have made the Christmas decoration for the
fireplace.
I cut brances of
mugo pine, whitebark pine, austrian pine
together with branches of rosemary and bay.

the decorations are small wooden or wicker Christmas objects,
ribbons and Christmas balls.

I put 4 big white candles for the Advent.

on the front door we put a very old decoration,
I made this together with the kids
I think some 10-12years ago :))
a simple juta bag filled with linning
match boxes as gifts
old toys
wooden stars
home made gips decorations
all clued together

this is the view we have had in the last week, it is very little Christmas feeling but so beautiful.

don't forget to drop by Katarina at Roses and Stuff

to see the other Blooming Friday's entries

have a nice weekend. :)

blooming friday - Adventskrans

it is raining so much in these days, taht it makes it difficult to work in the garden.
the other day I manged to clean the terrace a little, to move all my citrus plants closer to the wall of the house, to plant some cyclamen that give some colour.
actually I didn't finsished..it started to rain again, and I had to leave it all there.



Wednesday, it was very beautiful...the oaks around our house still have their leaves, coloured yellow and brown, in the sun they shine as gold.
this is a view of a part of the house, seen from the hill in front of us.




it was so nice I went out for a walk to cut some branches for the
firepleace, I usualy make one big Adventskrans on the fireplace, and one small as table decoration.
my fireplace is non ready yet, I can't find the candles I'm looking for, and it started to rain again
today so I didn't finsihed.
I hope to have it done until Sunday, the second Advent! :)


I must say that it is thank's to Katarina that I manged to make my Adventskrans in time!
last Friday she showed us hers, and I just left the pc on..and run out in the garden to do mine! :))

this is what came out, using things and plants from my garden.





one round pot filld with potting soil (I used acid soil)
1 white cyclamen persicum (florist's cyclamen)
4 brances of iberis sempervirens (evergreen candytuft)
6-7 brances of pino mugo (dwarf mountain pine)
12-14 brances of santolina chamaecyparissus (gray santolina or lavender cotton)
4 candles 40cm high
some long brances of Hedera helix variegata (variegated english ivy)



plant the cyclamen in the middle.
the 4 candles as a cross.
and in between the candles put all the branches.
wrap the hedera around the pot and put the start and the end in the soil.

leave your decoration outside while your not using it, otherwise it will all dry out in
the indoor temperature.




I would like to show you my last Nasturtium, big, proud, orange and so beautiful :)

remember to drop by at Katarina's to see the other entry's.
have a nice weekend, and second Advent :)

blooming friday - autumn composition

in these last November day's,

when the fog makes everything look dizzy,

the rain is pouring down and your mood is under your feet..
you just want it to be brighter, the day's longer, the sun to come back again.
it is not really time yet to dress up for Christmas,

so why not compose something colourfull to cheer you up a little.

I used a big simple pot where I already had cuttings of Nasturtium and Bignonia.
then my father-in-law gave me three bouquets of mixed leaves and flowers
that I could dispose as I wished.

It came out rather nice, a little bit colourful, not to much.

I'm non very fond of flowers in strong colours,

I prefer white or faded colours.
it looks good against the colour of the floor

(cotto fiorentino) and the wooden fence.

I put it as focus looking out from the living room.

I used Erica, Gipsophyla, ornamental cabbage,

a kind of Calicarpa (I think)

and branches of red and green leaves

(not very easy to recognize from just the leaves :)

the blue-greenish leaves could be some kind of Eucalipto.

here is also the Bignonia cutting

the Nasturtium, still growing fresh and green,

didn't produce much flowers this summer

but still looks very healthy :)

some berries from some small rose bush,

you can also use branches with Pyracantha berries

looks good but doesn't last much when cut.

the Cotoneaster is a little bit stronger and lasting.

I do hope some of this branches will turn out as cuttings :)

I wish to thank Katarina for this event, and don't

forget to pass by to see the other "bloomers" :)

blooming friday - sedum spectabilis

one of my many favorites is the Sedum Specatabilis.
I love waiting for it's minute flowers turning to pink.
then the whole plant turns red and brown, drying up completaly.
I think it looks very nice against my stonewall :)


it is a very easy growing plant, just take one small leaf and put it
in the ground...
and it will give you a new plant in no time.
it likes sunny places, poor soil and little water.
what else can you ask of a plant.


the sun is going down on this beautiful place that is the Garda Lake.
yesterday I had a huge group of german students doing a trekking on the
MOnte Baldo.
the weather up there was terrible...10°C, foggy and windy.
but when we came down...the sunset over Malcesine...was spectacular...

this was the group




and this was the sunset :)


have a nice wwk end :)


Thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday.

Visit her to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

blooming friday - lantana & solanum

katarina asks as whats ours leading ladies and figurants..
here the sometimes very hot and sunny weather during summer
makes some flowers stop blooming, just to come back again in September.
but I have a few that doesn't care about the heat, the sun or the high humidity :)

two are the lantanas..
one is lantana camara, mine the one in simple yellow
it grows in my rock garden so well, never complaining if I forget to water.



the other one is even more beautiful, the lantana mondevidensis
it's leaves changes colour in autumn, turning in dark purple.




both of them are very perfumed, not the flowers much as their leaves.
here on the Garda Lake they are winterhard, is is not necessary to cover them even on the few days of snow we have :)

both was bought on the Cote D'Azur several years ago, and I'm so pleased they liked it here.


another very very
easygrowing, nevercompling, alwayshappy plant is the solanum crispum.
this one is a cutting, growing so big and beautiful under the Robina tree.


as it is so difficuolt making cuttings of the lantana, with the solanum crispum..
you just cut a small branch, you put in earth in the shade...and you wait..
the next spring you can plant it in the ground.

it will loose it's leaves in the winter, will look sooo miserable...
put as the tiepid spring sun comes back (here the spring starts in early March)
it will pop out it's new sprouts...and in no time..fill with purple, delicate flowers that will perfume in the wind ass you pass by.
so, plant near a place were you sit, realx or/and eat.


Thank you Katarina for hosting this beautiful weekly event :)
other entries here