I made my first, but not definitely the last mini jungle in Finland. It's not very impressive yet, but in a moth or two I hope it starts to look more beautiful. I give them plenty of water, and good feeding.
Only couple hundred miles from the Artic Circle. Heheheh.
Like I said, it's small.
And what do I have in it?
Musa acuminata
closer view.
Colocasia ruffles.
Colocaisa gigantea. Remember, these are all babies:)
Alocasia odora
Unknown Alocasia fron Florida.
Xanthosoma
Typhonium
Few Sauromatum bulbs.
And here is a tiny tiny pond just next to it.
Small but very nice Mitjo. Great job. I'm sure it will fill up for you. You have all the right plants for that tropical look.
Hum.... this may be some kind of Ripely's record. Closest tropical garden to the Arctic Circle.
**Off Topic**
Flicker,
I've sent you a few e-mails in the past and was wondering if you ever got them.
Good job, Mitjo! Very creative.
Thats awesome!
Looking good!!! It is a lot of work to do,and you are doing great!!
Mitjo, good job! That is remarkable and I will watch for more pics as it grows!
Great Mitjo! Keep us posted. Where in Finland are you? I have a recently found cousin in Tornio and one in Helsinki.
That is really cool! Some people are amazed what we grow in zone 6, but zone 4?!?! How many Finnish (?) gardens have bananas??
Awesome pictures! Your neighbors will be very impressed:-)
Mitjo you have the finest tropical garden in Finland and you are the finest tropical gardener. Who else can say that?
Thank you very much all! I was really suprised when I came from our summer house and saw all these replies:=)
Heheheh, it might be a Ripleys record:) Hehehe, ust kidding.
Sharon, I live in Lappeenranta. It's 170 miles from Helsinki and 519 miles from Tornio. It's very nice to hear that you have family in Finland. Maybe someday you'll visit here. Have you contacted them yet?
Badseed, actually our zone is 3a or 3b:D, well, not very many Finnish gardens have Bananas, yet:D Hehehe, our summer is so short..
Thank you all!:)
I forgot to say that I also have some Cannas, rootbeer plants and common bananas there. Thank you Midsgarden!
Looks good Mitjo, call me when it's time to harvest the bananas. :D
Oh, SharonF, I live in the neighbor city of Helsinki. Are your ancestors are from Finland?
Btw Mitjo, first I thought you mean ilmastointi by AC, I was a bit confused, "what is he doing again!?" ;D
So great. I love it. So cute.
Mitjo,
I am hoping to visit Finland one day. Yes, I am in regular contact with my cousins there. In fact, I found them online while researching my mother's family in Finland.
Evert,
My mother's family is from Finland. She was born in Canada (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) after her family left Finland. She later married my dad and lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan where I grew up. I now live in Lake Havasu City, Arizona...where the climate is a whole lot differant than I'm used to. The climate in the area I grew up is similar to Finland's though.
Here's my new bit of the tropics.
Little progress:) I took this one mabe week and a half ago, so they are even bigger now. The Ears are just starting to grow well and so is the Banana.
I am totally impressed.....by your garden, your interest in plants at your age..(reminds me of me when I was your age)and the knowledge you are acquiring. Applause applause.!! :-)
Mitjo, looking great! How often do you have to water them there? Does it rain much?
PS- I hope you make it to the International Rounup, I would love to meet you.
Thank you Eclipse and Weeds:)
It's not looking anything like your tropical beds Ec, they are really great and the combinations are so bright. On this summer I am just collectin more tropicals (Thanks to DG'ers!) for next summer. I want to make is better, this is just practise:) I want to make the Ear tubers to grow bigger so that they start growing faster on next summer. And I want them to make bigger leaves:) I want to add more colours...
Weeds, it's raining very offen on this summer, so I dont have to water them very much. But I do fertilize them pretty offen.
I hope I make it too, I would love to meet you too:)
Mitjo, I have lots of Cynara cardunculus seeds if you want to have some. Eclipse has Cynara in his beautiful gardens. Here they grow in the wild (intoduced sp.) and NOBODY would plant this WEED in their garden. However, we do eat "penca" salad. This is taken from the central fleshy part of the leaves that are peeled like celery, and then cut in small pieces. This salad (I love it with boiled eggs and olive oil) has a very high content of Fe, same as artichokes (their cousin).
Anyone else that wants Cynara cardunculus seeds please e-mail me.
