A walk round the garden

[SidW]

The official definition if spring in Sweden is a week with temperatures constantly above 0C (32F) - so far we've made six days in a row a couple of times, then it dips to -5C again. The popular definition is when the Hepaticas in the woods start flowering, which is around the same time, they should be out now, third week in March. Instead, here's a Hepatica transsilvanica in the garden (otherwise native to the Balkans, the local wild variety is Hepatica nobilis):




Otherwise we've had things like snowdrops for a couple of months now, they can withstand the gales, frosts and snowfalls, and open up on a mild sunny day. A popular plant in Sweden, as tough as snowdrops, is Eranthis hyemalis - I've seen various English names but the RHS (UK) has winter aconite. They quickly form wide yellow carpets, adding a splash of colour to a dull season:




The crocuses stand in bud through February, but don't flower until the first week of March:




The hellebores have been battling on since January, it's amazing they remain standing in the bitter winds, and hardly anyone to see them, it's so much more comfortable indoors:




But we won't see the daffodils you were talking about recently on a different thread for a few more weeks yet.

EOS 20D, EF 100mm/2.8 macro, ISO 400, shutter around 1/500 to 1/1000 and aperture around 8.

[scott]

Very pretty, Sid!

But as I recall --Sweden being considerably "longer" than it is "wide"-- timing the arrival of spring has relatively more to do with lattitude than in most European countries.

Most springs I saw were in Sundsvall, and we always had to wait a few more weeks for spring than people in the South. But I remember the very first day I was in Sweden, many years ago. It was the first week of May, we walked all over Djurgaarden, and there was vitsippa (never learned the English name) was everywhere.

[nikonbob]

Sid

I am happy to see that it is spring somewhere in the northern hemisphere with signs of new life and colour poking through. Unfortunately for us the old saying that April showers bring May flowers may be more true.

Bob

[SidW]

Thank you both.

Yes, Sundsvall is colder, although the coast is milder than inland. But yes, they'll be a few weeks behind. I used to commute to a place even further north, and the journey at this time of the year would pass through a series of seasons.

If you trace our latitude eastwards you will cut along the Latvian/Lithuanian border and pass north of Moscow - being deeper into the continent it will be colder going that way. To the west we're about level with Edinburgh and Glasgow, probably milder than we are. And across the Atlantic, Canada stretches even farther N-S than Sweden does. Our latitude passes through the middle of Québec and Alberta, where I'm sure it's colder again (that's further north than the city of Toronto where some members live). Continuing out into the Pacific the latitude cuts through the Aleutians passing just north of Unalaska where my grandfather was stationed in the 1890s with the Bering Sea Patrol during the seal poaching dispute, by all accounts even rougher than the Atlantic.

Oh, and the vitsippor are wood anemones, also occurring in the British Isles, they probably have the same cultural significance here as promroses do in Britain.

[Randy]

Really nice photos Sid, they make me glad Winter is almost over here.

[scott]

I'm from Texas, but I first got interested in photography while I was working in Sundsvall (northern Sweden), in the ealy 90s.

A friend talked a few of us into forming an informal photography club. We visited a friend of one of the guys, who was a camera collector/repairman, and each of us bought a second-hand SLR from him. So that that was my first SLR --a late 60s Praktica.

I joined an ABF "study circle" and attended evening classes led by a semi-pro photographer who was also an enthusiatic teacher. Covered all of the basics, including black and white developing and darkroom printing.

So I learned about all of the techniques and terminology first in Swedish --and then only later in English. That was back before the internet had become a convenient way to get general information, and all the books on the subject that I could find in the library and bookshops were in Swedish, of course. And that was probably for the best --having to read about and talk about concrete and practical topics like that was a good way for me to practice the language!

[nikonbob]

Sid

I don't know where you are in Sweden you are, but I looked and we are about 11 degrees south of Stockholm. So any way you cut it that is not fair that you have flowers now and we don't.

Bob

[SidW]

Bob, Stockholm is around 60N so that puts you around 50 or just below, say level with Paris and Prague. Sundsvall, that Scott mentioned is 2 or 3 degrees north of Stockholm on the E coast, say level with the top of Hudson Bay and the Yukon. Arctic winds might cool us down, but the Atlantic winds save us from getting too cold. Sounds like we have a gale outside now. We live right down in the SW, roughly 56N which must make us further north than you are.

Scott, that's how I learned Swedish too, using various books to learn about this and that. It's a wierd feeling having topics you can't really talk about in your own language.

[nikonbob]

Sid

You are correct about being about the same lat as Paris. I only wish we had their average snowfall amount. Still seems unfair.

Bob

[Deleted]

That's interesting. Southern Idaho is the same latitude as Rome but the daffodils aren't quite ready to bloom--and we have had a very mild winter.

Wayne