Waking up the garden

We did some much needed gardening last weekend. This year's winter has been hard on the garden, and I can't remember the last time spring arrived this late. After doing some removal of plants that didn't make it, and some general tidying up, I picked up this beautiful little japanese maple at the local nursery. I love maples, the leaves are so incredibly elegant an the colors are just breathtaking. I have a lot of winter greens in my garden as a kind of "base", and like to add plants that really change with the seasons. I adore autumn colors and maples are true autumn beauties. This specimen  actually has autumn colors now, what could be more perfect?

The ivy is green year around. Here, they're mingling with a creper that I don't know the english name for. I'm not big on flowers, I do, however, love to mix the solid greens with plants that have other colors to create variations. This picture actually looks lik fall, but it's taken now, promise...

These are called "villvin" in Norwegian, after googleing I think "Virginia creepers" must be the name in English. I bought the as really small plants and they grow rapidly and now cover a tall stone wall. They get leaves quite late, in the early summer, but they're at their most spectacular in the fall, when they turn into every shade of red you can imagine.

This is how my cherry tree looks like right now. It's right outside my kitchen window. Pretty soon it will be in full bloom.

These little anemones (Hvitveis in Norwegian) are a sure sign of spring in Scandinavia. They're not from my garden, but grow pretty much eveywhere right now, especially in areas a bit shaded by trees. Every Scandinavian mom get little bouquets of these, picked by our kids on their way from school. It's always such a great joy!