Chrysanthemum is one of popular horticultural flowers in Japan. Many varieties have been developed in the history. Even today, many chrysanthemum lovers grow it and exhibitions are held in many places this time. Webmaster visited Odawara Castle this week for one of the exhibitions. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 0:37) Odawara (walk 0:10) @ It was fine today… Read more →
Red spider lily (Lycoris radiate, Higanbana) is flowering. A longhorn beetle staying on the flower Red spider lily and pampas grass Red spider lily with rice crop Now it’s time for harvest. Rice paddy field after harvesting. Now we are in autumn. End. Read more →
Now rice plant is ripening. It’s still greenish, but will become golden yellow soon. A scarecrow in the rice field called “kakashi” in Japanese Flowering red spider lily (Lycoris radiate, Higanbana), which is one of important members of autumn’s landscape in the countryside. The season of new rice is coming! End. Read more →
If you are traveling in Japan now, you must hear the sound of cicadas. Is that noisy for you? The sound is just one of back ground music in summer for Japanese, though. There are about thirty species of cicadas in Japan, among which fourteen are found in the main land except Southwestern islands. The commonest is Large… Read more →
Chestnuts are now maturing. Have you ever seen the burrs of chestnut? If you come from Europe, North America, Korea, and China, probably “yes”. If you come from Southern countries, probably “no”. In fact, chestnuts are widely distributed in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. Our chestnut (Castanea crenata) is an indigenous tree in Japan and also… Read more →
Webmaster visited Ibaraki Prefecture, north to Tokyo, last week. And he found Japanese Helwingia (hanaikada, Helwingia japonica) shrubs are bearing fruits. As shown in the previous blog (2017-05-18) , hanaikada is an indigenous shrub in Japan which has flowers on its leaves. Consequently, they have fruits on their leaves. Doesn’t it look curious? When… Read more →
Now, Japanese iris (Hanashobu, Iris ensata var. ensata) is now flowering in many gardens. Webmaster visited Sagamihara Park (Sagamihara-koen) this week which has an iris garden. Access: Tokyo (local train 0:14) Shinjuku (local train 0:32) Sagami-ono (bus 0:20) Sagamiharakoen-mae @ When Webmaster visited the garden in April, iris was still small. But,… Read more →
Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is a summer bird in Japan. They migrate to Southeast Asia to escape the winter and return in spring for breeding. A nest with a brood of four young birds. Their nest is made of mad and dry grass mixed with their saliva. We Japanese traditionally care for swallow. It is considered as a beneficial… Read more →
Webmaster found Japanese Helwingia (hanaikada, Helwingia japonica) when went hiking before last week. Hanaikada is an indigenous shrub in Japan. The similar species (same genus) distribute in East Asia from Himalayan region to Southern China. It widely distributes in forests in hilly and mountainous area, but is not very common. Curiously enough, this shrubby species has flowers… Read more →
Tsutsuji azalea is now flowering. Some buds of azalea Azalea is very popular in Japan. In fact, azalea can be seen everywhere, in parks, gardens and even on road sides. If you are traveling in Japan now, you will easily find azalea flowers. Azalea flowers last much longer than cherry flowers. Please enjoy azalea flowers! … Read more →