April 3

This past winter has been extremely mild by Swedish standards. The earth and the lakes have hardly cooled down and spring has come early.

The native trees and plants do adhere to tradition, the birches are still bare, the grasslands still yellow, the famous vitsippor, the wood anemones, are still firmly under the ground. But the plants that were once bought in the garden centres, probably originally from Holland, are already sprouting enthusiastically. Not a bad idea, because it really doesn’t look like it will be a real Swedish April this year, like last year.

Today it is actually 18 degrees and there are lemon butterflies flying through the garden!