Happy midsummer

This weekend we are celebrating midsummer, although in a quieter way than usual. Most years all my friends come over and we have a really big and long late lunch with new potatoes, herring and cured salmon for starters and an abundant selection of grilled meats and vegetables for main course. This year we will be just a handful, but still it's lovely to celebrate in the traditional way. When I was a young girl we'd pick seven different wild flowers and put them under the pillow as folk lore has it that it makes you dream about your future husband. Even then, I mostly dreamt of flowers... And how lovely the wild flowers are at this time of year!

Clammy campion (Silene viscaria) is my absolute favourite wildflower, and I was delighted to find a rare place pink one amongst all the dark pink flowers. It is not often they mutate into other colours, and such fun to find one! Along the driveway at Humlegård I have managed to get another wildflower to grow and thrive, the pink Ragged robin (Lychnisflos-cuculi) in the picture below together with ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare). I am a bit proud, as Ragged robins really are quite rare on my farm.

Lupins (Lupinus mutabilis) on the other hand try to conquer the world. I strictly limit their spread as they are considered an invasive foreign weed, but some are allowed to flower only because the bumblebees love them so much and like a true curling-mummy I happily spoil my bees with an abundant selection of their favourite plants. Elsewhere in the gardens the aquilegias, Allium giganteum and pink geraniums have put on a great display, and after midsummer I shall post a special update on these beauties.

Last but not least, I've had a lovely weekend with one of my best friends and her daughter - my Goddaughter - over for a visit. That's why the blogpost was late this week. We have been so busy petting the lambs and feeding the chicken, having saunas and swimming in the lake, that I simply haven't had the time to concentrate on anything else!