I know it’s already midsummer, but why not wind down over some spring memories? While living in Finland it always has amazed me to see the small leaf buds emerge and the intense lime green of new leaves transforming the brown canvas of the forest. But somehow in the past, while commuting and running errands in the “old normal”, the spring always flew by and I hardly ever had time to appreciate flowers that were in front of my nose. With the “new normal” I’ve finally had time to be more mindful and enjoy this season that I have neglected for quite a long time. True to be told, Finnish spring is infamous for being short, some people claim winter lasts 6 months and spring not even a quarter of the year, which is a bit of an overstatement if you ask me. But yes, if compared with any other season, spring in Helsinki flashes by and its gone before one realizes.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s look back at some of my spring memories. Below you can see my two favorite paths in the Viikki arboretum. Before and after the leaves burst, the change is outstanding! although pictures don’t make justice to the real life greenery.

A burst of green

The tiny lime green leaves are a true feast for the eyes. It is stunning to see the new leaves bursting out as the days become longer and the weather warmer. This year the weather was particularly good, we only had snow ~3 times during the spring, which means we had a proper spring 😉

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Frosty mornings

One of the things I enjoyed the most in early spring, was the fresh brisk air and some frosty mornings. I love seeing how cute the plants look covered with the frost crystals as seen below. Somehow as I write this, the pictures bring me memories of hail and foggy mornings in my hometown Bogotá.

Flower blossoms

It was a blessing to have so many flower blossoms popping out everywhere and bringing joy and calm to the present moment, while in the news there was so much turmoil. I had fun every morning trying to pin point new plants and got quite a collection of flowers from: hyacinths, apple and cherry trees, cow slips, field violets, wood sorrels, marsh marigolds and wood anemones, the latter being the first ones to decorate the forest floor.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The star of spring

One of the most anticipated blossoms by most people are the cherry blossoms. They are truly spectacular and whenever they start blooming, there will be people taking shots of their beauty or taking a selfie with the stunning background. In Roihuvuori, there is a cherry orchard with 152 trees donated by the Japanese community in Helsinki, both local residents and big companies between 2007-2009.

Home gardening bliss

The stars of my spring were not the cherry trees nor apple trees in bloom, but the tulips that I had for the first time in my garden. Last year, in one fine autumn day, I forced my self to dig a 10cm deep trench and sow the tulip bulbs long in advance. Then, as time passed the world changed dramatically since I sow them in October 2019 until they popped out in May 2020. I would have never ever imagined that those simple bulbs would bring me so much joy while doing remote work from my tiny flat. It was nice to see them through the window and to have them welcome me home after my morning walks. Those tulips endured the unreliable spring weather and kept me company for more than a month.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Along with the tulips, I started to pay more attention to the garden and enjoyed the tiny field violets, dandelions and other wild flowers, that in a normal year I wouldn’t have appreciated as much. This year I was surprised to observe that dandelion as well as tulip flowers open their petals in the morning and close them towards the end of day as temperature changes; it turns out this is called nyctynasty, whereby cool air and receding light signal it is “sleep” time for the plant and hence the petals close.

If you wonder the reason behind the title of this post, it is taken from one of Igor Stravinsky master pieces, for which Vaslav Nijinksy made a controversial choreography. Both the music and dance of ‘ the rite of spring’ are “agitated and uneven” (as Isleult Gillespie explains in the video below) just as the events of the first half of this year. So the title is a subtle hint to the worries and problems of this time…and also a sign of the cultural events that I’ve been missing.

Bonus points for…

Gardening: 7/5 it is absolutely time well spent! from bringing beautiful blooms to your space to nutritious microgreens to your salad, or learning new cool plant biology phenomena, it’s a wholesome experience and probably one of the most rewarding hobbies.

Spring: hum 2/5? Winter, Autumn, Summer and Spring, that’s the so far unshakable ranking.