At least some isolated flowers

Slowly, slowly the plants at the Steppe Roundabout in Lund begin to establish in the harsh and inhospitable environment. Yet the planting is irrigated regularly however and that will continue through the summer, but from now decreased to once a week.

Of course the planting still looks very sparse and scanty and it might be difficult for the viewers to cotton on the design idea and appreciate the display. Unfortunately it will take two or three years before the roundabout will show its real character.

Some few plants have at least started to expose their flowers. In order of appearance this is what has happened. Already when planted in April the Aubrieta 'Blaumeise' was set with flowers, followed by Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei' and the sanguineum-hybrid Geranium 'Tiny Monster'. Then Knautia macedonica 'Mars Midjet' opened its dark red flowers, next Veronica spicata and Prunella grandiflora. This week Dianthus carthusianorum began to bloom.

Solitude standing

Yesterday the one and only pine tree, a big Pinus nigra, from Bruns in Germany was planted in the roundabout. All the rocks have also been placed out already so now we are only waiting for the perennials to arrive. Next week the planting will start.  

The Sea Spot in Trosa

Normally a new planting needs at least two seasons to establish, but sometimes it can happen very fast. The picture above is from Trosa municipality just south of Stockholm in Sweden. At the little city square in tiny Trosa I renewed two existing vegetation spaces last year. A small area with old trees and suffering lawn below them was turned into a lovely woodland plot with benches and magnificent spring aspects from the understory of flowering herbs and azaleas.

An even much smaller spot was before a planting with some low shrubs – if I remember right the Shrubby Cinquefoil, Potentilla fruticosa. Nothing wrongs with that of course, however a bit boring. This space was converted into a planting inspired by the shore nearby the city and named the Sea spot.

It was made in the spring 2009 and already in late summer the same year it had settled rather well. The photos are from the end of October last year. The area was first covered by a layer of 20-25 cm sand and then we added round boulders, stones and pebbles. Both true sea shore plants as Sea Wormwood (Artemisia maritima) and Sea Holly (Eryngium maritimum) were used as well as fake ones as Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis triplivervis) and Spear Grass (Stipa calamagrostis). As late fall aspect the European Michaelmas Daisy (Aster amellus ‘Veilchenkönigin’) was used.

The other planting at the square, the Pocket Woodland, needs however at least all this year too to turn really enjoyable. I’ll come back to this place as soon as I have pictures to show.

Stipa calamagrostis or Achnatherum calamagrostis

The Prairie Junction in Mariestad

Planted in late autumn last year this new prairie isn't really established yet. Except from some grasses (Andropogon, Schizachyrium and Sporobolus) most plants at least have survived the long and harsh winter. But will they stand the drought? When I visited the planting it appeared to be very dry in the root zone and most plants were suffering from the lack of water. Unfortunately it is not possibly to irrigate this planting so let's hope for some really rainy days soon. We also planted a lot of seeds among the perennials, but not many of these seeds seem to have taken root.

The whole area of 1500 square meters (0.4 acres) was before we started to plant covered by a layer of about 15-20 cm of macadam. This to create a good drainage and more important to prevent the planting from weed seeds in the existing soil under the macadam layer.

I guess we have to wait two or three seasons before this prairie planting has established properly. But I do think it then will be a real stunning show place so it is for sure worth all waiting.

The plants are suffering from the terrible scarcity of water  

Most planted perennials have survived, but where are all the expected seedlings?

A very dry setting

This dry habitat planting in Sävsjö was made in 1999 and extended in 2001. The mixture of gravels, sand and soil were put directly on an existing lawn. Only at the edges of the planting area the lawn was removed. Beside stable perennials we also used some short lived perennials and some true hoppers, biennials like the Verbascum bombiferum. Today 10 and 8 years later the planting still is okay. As this was meant to be a dynamic planting it of course looks very different nowadays compared to its early stages.

The planting is never irrigated, except from the first establishing year of course. If a plant species can't stand the conditions and die it will not be replaced. The hard world of dynamics rules!

Lychnis calcedonica, a short lived perennial has increased in number

The Alpine Thistle, Eryngium alpinum excist in some few specimen