Last year my friend Malin Tverin finished her doctoral studies (PhD in Biology) and celebrated with an outdoor party for her closest friends in her mother Lillevis garden. It was a glorious day in late May, and we were all thrilled to be there to celebrate her accomplishment! As there still were restrictions due to corona, having the get together outdoors was the safest option. And for me it was bliss! I simply love Lillevis spring garden and thoroughly enjoyed spending time sipping champagne and admiring the flowers.
The flower borders are surrounded by stone boulders which perfectly enhances the natural surroundings of rich and forests. Year by year more compost has been added, and the plants are allowed to spread wild all over. Often they have been so happy in their allotted places that they multiply wildly, and generous as she is Lillevi happily gives away surplus plants. All my tiger lilies (Lilium bulbiferum) come from her garden, as well as the hollyhocks (Alcea rosa) I love that have now started to spread in my garden too. The one thing I especially enjoy in Lillevis garden is the abundance of ferns amongst the perennials and bulbs, and it is one thing I have added to my woodland borders in all the empty gaps.
Each year Lillevi adds to her tulip collection as the climate and voles together work against her to decimate her decimate the bulbs while dormant underground, so that regardless winter mishaps she always has the most tremendous show. But her real love is peonies, and later on in the season I will show you the wonderful ones she has collected!
I will leave you with a last picture from the 27th of May 2020 of the freshly minted Doctor of Biology Malin to the left and Lillevi the fantastic gardener to the right, and while doing so give an extra shout out to them both: Hipp hipp hurra darlings!
