Beautiful Swedish Winter Wonderland

 

This is so beautiful, I need to share....

It's like a fairy tale, we enjoyed these beautiful days so much.. . It's very nice winter weather. Daytime a lot of sun and a very blue sky and it keeps frosty. Nighttime it's clear, icy cold (minus 12 or more) and full moon. The only time in winter we can have a look outside. Mostly we look outside and see just nothing, just black. Like your eyes not working.

Now we really have to fire the wood stove to keep our livingroom warm enough in the evening time. Last week we have got a lot of snow. Even when it fells down, the nightly frost will cover trees again with a white paint. When you wake up in the morning, it starts a little bit clouded, but when Mother Sun arrives you can see the damp disappear. It creates a very mystic atmosphere. You can already feel the warmth of the sun, it doesn't feel really cold outside. If possible, I should buy a box to collect these days in. It gives lot of energy and makes me feel very happy. Probably because of the sun and the very blue sky. 

We have been outside and made an awful lot of pictures, all beauty's. We had a walk on the ice also but that felt a little triggy. The tick snow cover isolates the ice very well and harms the ice quality. It feels uncomfortable, though the ice will be tick enough anyway. It has been strong freezing for a longer time now. I cannot wait to share this very beautiful pictures with you, maybe you get some new energy too!

Maybe you also like this video? (oops... It doesn't always work that good on your handy)

Maybe you are interested why blue skies gives a lot of fresh and new energy to people. Some time ago I wrote an article about it: Winterblues remedies. 

Wintersleep in my Swedish Småland Forestgarden

It's like slow living on the countryside now... The winter atmosphere is magic. It's more light because of the snow and it's cold. We were very lucky, we had a very sunny days last week. It was -5 daytime but not cold at all. When you get one you need to enjoy it because it want be sunny in January that much. So we did and I like to share it with you!

One day we woke up with the old days flowers on the windows. What a beauty, so perfectly shaped. Just nature. 

All the plants in my garden are in a sort of wintersleep, like my Skimmia Kew Green. It is dropping it's leafs because of the cold. You can see it on the picture. It has been freezing -12. The plant drops down the moist back to the earth to stay alive and not freeze in peaces. It will recover when the frost is gone.  

That's the reason I decided to cover my Helleborus Orientalis (Julros) also. It can manage cold very well (but doesn't like it too cold and wet), but it's not necessary to cover it whole winter. It wil stay flowering next months anyway. 

I'm also enjoying the silhouettes of my (Miscanthus) grasses already though they are not that big yet, they are doing well. The rest of my plants? It is hard to believe but they hide away in the ground, waiting for spring. They need more hours of light (not even only sun) and higher temperatures (min 7 degrees) to come out again and start growing. I need to wait some weeks more. Time to make a planting wish list, a new garden planning and have a look for new seeds for next years. That's promising.....

Last year my big friends (deer and hair) had already been eating in my garden. This year it is a little better, or was it there was noting left....

Snowy Knutsday Småland Sweden

Lot's of snow, this is a good start of a new year. The real wintertime we have been longing for... Sometimes it's little cold, dark and snowy but much better as a lot of rain. I like to go outside, put my winterjacket on and just walk around beside of the lake and into the woods, making pictures and  looking for animals traces. We usually spot some fox, hare, deer and with some luck some moose traces. This week we saw a black woodpecker, not that often seen. We take care of the birds around our house and attract more and more species. 

Last celebrating days of the Christmas Time in Scandinavia. It was Epiphany (or The Twelfth Day after Christmas), on the 6th of Januari. In the The Netherlands we call it Three Kings Day. In both countries it's a day where you are free from work, no special celebrations as far as I know.

A week later it is Knutsday, or in Swedish Tsjugonde Knutsdagen (Formerly 20 days after Christmas, called efter King Knut). This is the day you finally put away your Christmas stuff, or throw out the Christmas Tree. In former days they called it: dancing Christmas out... Time to start the new year after lot of celebrations in the darkest days of the year. Let's go back to normal, if possible with the Corona virus traveling around. 

After al, it was that much snow as it was in 2018. Or if you want to know more about last years tjugonde-knutsdagen, Just take a look!