Flowers for the Lunar New Year...

Today, 9th February 2013, Saturday, was a beautiful day... 

Skies were blue... cloudless... windless... so cool and pleasant...

Yes, the white plums are beginning to bloom... 

And this one is dedicated to Autumn Belle... 

These 'Sen-ryo' (Sarcandra glabra) are not from my garden... 

Got them as leftovers from an Ikebana class...

Yes, this freshly picked 'sudachi' (Citrus sudachi) is from our garden... 

We normally use them green, in our cooking...

This chrysanthemum is also part of the leftovers from the Ikebana class...

And my suweeto haato picked this Narcissus up from the hills in one of her walks recently... 

Ooh, its fragrance.... so sweet... 

Happy Lunar New Year to those of you who celebrate the event...

Flowers in the rainy season...

We are in the midst of the rainy season...
Incidentally, Typhoon Number 4 is currently scraping over the Japanese archipelago as I blog, bringing with it much rain and strong winds...
Luckily, our place is not along its path...



And yes, rainy season in Japan is the season to enjoy the blooms of Ajisai (hydrangea)...
The first specimen was given to us by a neighbor the other day...

I actually prefer the other type of ajisai that the Japanese folks call gaku-ajisai (gaku = frame, as in picture frame)...

Apparently, the real flowers are those dotty little things in the middle area...

Rather intriguing, don't you think?

My sweeto haato takes care of mainly herbs and flowers (while I do vegetables and fruits)...

Here, I was privileged to capture one of her creations (of roses and English lavender)...

Some years ago, I tried sowing some edible chrysanthemum seeds...
Thereafter, they self-seed and I really do not have to do much except harvesting them...

They are an excellent vegetable to eat...

And after the eating is done, they provide plentiful flowers that are so pretty...

And once again, I was delighted to be able to capture yet another arrangement made by my missus...

The Autumn Giraffe, among others...

Autumn days at Shikoku have been super pleasant... 
Cool, dry, and simply heavenly to be outdoors...

Took a shot of our potager today...
The marigolds are still blooming, as are the zinnias...

This dwarf of a flower is called 'wild chrysamthemum'　（野菊）in Japanese... 
They grow so well in our garden, without any attention from us...

The Japanese folks call this flower 'Hototogizu' (ホトトギス）, which is the name of a bird belonging to the cuckoo family... Apparently, the spots of this lily-family flower is similar to the spots on the chest of the bird...

Think this is called Larkdaisy or Porcupine flower.
The Japanese name is Murasaki Rushan （ムラサキルーシャン） or Ringo Azami（リンゴアザミ）...
Leaves emit apple-like smell when rubbed...

This chrysanthemum is endemic to the island of Honshu in Japan... 

It's scientific name is Chrysanthemum pacificum Nakai but I prefer the common name Isogiku (イソギク) meaning, Rocky Shore Chrysanthemum...

 

We enjoy looking at this wild flower in our morning walks... 

Took back home a specimen of this 'Aki no kirin so' （秋の麒麟草）, literally, Autumn Giraffe flower...

Am linking this post to GBBD, which is hosted by May Dreams Gardens...

China root berries, strawberries, pineapple sage, etc...

There has been just so much rain this year...

Not to say that I am complaining... 

It is just marvelous for the plants, in fact...

This is a picture of the berries of a climber plant called 'China root'...

They grow wildly in our property... 

The young shoots can be eaten as a vegetable (pictures next spring?)... 

Some folks use the berries to make wine but apparently they do not taste good... 

For the time being, we just plan to enjoy their beauty...

I bought two types of raspberry plants from the store some years ago... 

And they do give very good fruits...

Only thing I really have to do is to fertilize them more...

I had thought that this specie fruits only in spring but we found it fruiting this season...

Hmmm, lovely, of course... 

We had taken the liberty to name this beauty 'Princess Pink'... 

My suweeto haato found it growing semi-wild in the hills...

We took back some cuttings and this beauty of a rose has been thriving very well in our potager...

This white chrysanthemum is also grown by my missus... 

As with the above mentioned rose, this cutie has adapted very well to our environment...  

And finally, the pineapple sage... 

Apparently, the name comes from the pineapple-like fragrance that the flowers leaves emit when crushed... 

Strawberries... the 'tamed' and the wild...

Am very happy with the strawberries...
We get to harvest only a few fruits per day...
Good enough as an additional topping to the yoghurt for breakfast...

The rue is a member of the citrus family...
The Italians apparently use it to flavor a liqueur...
The smell of the rue is supposed to repel (stray) cats...
But not so for the cats in our neighborhood...  

Last year, I enjoyed harvesting some wild strawberries in the nearby hills...
Think they are called Japanese wineberries...
Brought back some canes to plant in our potager...
And woah, they grow like crazy...
And their fruits... ooh, so lovely...
Almost no maintanence at all...
In fact, I need to weed them out of the walkpaths as they grow so fast...

 
Another 'big' harvest of the strawberries from the potager...

Our Rosa banksiae is flowering very profusely...
Thought it was not a rose, but it actually is part of the family...
I like it because of its immense volume of flowers...

My missus picked this up from the hills in one of her walks...
The wisteria is all over the hills this time of the year...
I think they make very beautiful flowers...

We grow a vegetable... the edible chrysanthemum...
It is very good with soup dishes especially in the winter...
After we are done eating their leaves, it is time to sit back and enjoy their flowers...
Looks a bit like hard boiled eggs... no?

There was no label for this rose when my missus bought it from the store...
This particular specie emits a really sweet, classic rosy scent...
And, unlike the other species, this one makes a lovely preserve...
Hence, 'Sweet Pink'...

Manuka tea tree, chrysanthemums, potager snowed...

We had about 3 centimeters of snow today...
Flights were delayed, and the transport system momentarily went kaput...
The last time we had 'so much' snow was 25 years ago...
Which means to say I can't be outdoors doing my thing...
So, photo taking it was...  

These flowers are from the manuka tea plant that my missus just bought...
We already have one in the garden and it is growing quite well... 

Think this one is called Burgundy Queen...
The flowers are about one centimeter across...

They are also called New Zealand tea tree...
Settlers apparently used the leaves as a subsititute for tea from China, hence the common name...
The Japanese called them 'gyo-ryu bai'... translated quite meaning-lessly as 'fish willow plum' tree...

They can grow up to 4 meters high...
And they tolerate poor soil, and dry weather like the one we have here...
There are the source for the well-known manuka honey, which we enjoy consuming...

Changing topic... these chrysanthemums are not from our potager...
My partner Y sometimes buy them as cut flowers from the local farmers' market... 

They have been sitting in the flower pot since the last days of December...
And they still look very fresh...

What more, this yellow beauty has even rooted itself in the pot...
I plan to transfer it to the plot when the weather gets warmer...

Back to the snow story... this picture was taken this morning at about 7:00 am...
Was shivering in the cold, but could not miss the opportunity to shoot this scene...

The fava beans in the foreground are covered with snow...
So are the lettuce in the back...
Luckily by late afternoon, the snow melted and up popped the plants again... phew...

Flowers to chew on...

This pic shows a salad mix prepared by my suweeto-haato...
The usual stuff like peas, red turnips, onions, cucumbers...
Plus, edible flowers like the blue borage, the red nasturtium, the sinewy, beige (?) rocket, the pink geranium... and the yellow chrysanthemum...
All these (except peas and onions) were from the garden...
Tossed in olive oil, they were quite a delight for the senses...


Ages ago when I first landed in Tokyo as an airline crew, I had my first taste of 'hiya yakko'...
Cold tofu, that is... and so, a summer dish...
It shocked me, actually, to feel the cold of the curd...
But you get used to it...
Here, combined with that green stuff freshly plucked from the garden, and spruced up with sesame seeds and soy sauce... hmmm... oishikatta...


Am blessed, thinking that I can enjoy home-made bread each morning...
This one, pizza-toast, should I say?
Onions, bell peppers, shredded cheeze on wholesome bread...
Topped up with dashes of tomato sauce...
And toasted to perfection... (well, almost...)


And, one of my all time favorites...
Tomato-based spaghetti... preferably combined with seafood...
This one was meat, though... but still with some sweet basil leaves thrown in...
Wooh, equally yummy...