Today -January 15th- we honour the tulips. These wonderful and strong flowers were cultivated since the 17 th century in Sweden and it was exactly here in Uppsala where it happened first. Olof Rudbeck d.ä. planted "Tulipa sylvestris" on the grounds of the Uppsala Botanical Garden.

The Swedish farmers grow more than 160 million tulips every year and the Swedes are champions in buying them! The best-selling flowers!

In order to last longer, keep them with their original wrapping from the florist and cut their stems one centimeter before placing them in a vase with fresh and cold water.

Hope you enjoy some tulips today at home.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

July 2 is ROSE DAY in Sweden. The name "Rosa" has been used here since the end of the XVIII century, though today it´s rare to find a small girl with this name.

Yesterday I attended an introduction to the Old Roses´ World at the Botanical Gardens in Uppsala. We were a small group (because of the damned Corona!) at the Baroque garden where the oldest rose bushes are kept. From there you have a wonderful view of both the Uppsala Castle (Slottet) and the BlåsenHus from the University (so lucky them; such a view they have from there every day!)

Gunilla Uhlin Friberg guided us through this complicated -I mean really complicated- rose world. Gunilla has a long experience in roses and she has a garden full of them at her Upland home. She is a "rosgalning" (mad about roses). If you start taking care of roses, you shall never come to an end, ´cause it´s an immense world and needs hard work too.

Did you know that the first roses come from the Middle East and Asia? The oldest ones are white, soft pink and pink and the red and yellow roses are originally Chinese. All the original old roses smell more than those hybrids we buy at the flower shops. The hybrids stay longer, but they do not smell.

#rose #rosor #bride #bouquet #garden

KEEP IT SIMPLE