Pirate's Garden

Today, I would like to share "Pirate's Garden", as which my garden friend, Mackky,  calls his back yard.

Firstly, want show you a pergola in the following photo.

Mackky built it from an impression of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Let's take a look!

Sedum has grown beautifully around bricks!

A colorful shelf has been fixed on a wall.

He painted not only the shelf, but also this saw!

Believe it or not, a new saw was painted as if it got rusted!!! What a talented painter!!

 Okay, let's take a look into the shelf!

It has many interesting items, doesn't it?

This lovely sign has also been made by himself.

To make its rounded shape, after cutting the boards roughly, he burned, painted , and sanded them. Amazing!

 Okay, let's  move further inside!

Can you see something long materials embedded in the ground?

They are  train tracks!

He mentioned that he got the real ones!!!

Okay, let's get on a train and arrive at the station, then, what we can find is...

Wooooow! a treasure map!!!

Now that we get a treasure map, open the white door, let's go looking for treasures:)

As you see, his garden has a story, which reminds us of childhoods' memories.

Actually, he lives in an apartment, and his room is on the first floor.

His garden may not be as big as yours,

but it always inspires me!!

My Garden in Spring 2014

Hi everyone,

How is your garden this spring?

My small balcony has its best season these days.

Looking at these photos, I want to review my garden　in an objective way.

I liked large flowered roses when I started gardening. But my taste is getting changed.  Now I love tiny little flowers like the ones in the above photo. And in terms of roses, I also prefer little flower types.

I love hostas or hydrangeas which have beautiful broad leaves.

And now getting interested in herbs which have sliver leaves like Cat Mint in the above photo.

 I want to increase more silver foliage in my garden:)

 I'm overwhelmed by my job recently, so I don't have enough time to take pictures of my garden.

But those flowers healed me:)

How about your spring garden? 

Kawachi Wisteria Garden

I flew to Kawachi Wisteria Garden a few days ago.

This is the place which was selected as one of  "10 Beautiful Places In The World That Actually Exist."

This garden has two tunnels where 22 types of wisteria bloom in early May.

As it is a private property, they don't advertise at all. So, we had no choice but to settle our schedule based on some information posted on the internet.

We arrived here at 8:30am, 30 minutes earlier to open, but an owner allowed us to enter:) Then, I was a little bit disappointed to hear that the entrance fee was 600 yen on that day. Because it changes according to the flower condition. You have to pay 1,000 yen during full bloom.

Although it was not in full bloom, the scenery I saw was breathtaking!! Paying 600 yen made me sooo excited, then how would it be when they're at their best???

There were only a few people due to early morning, so we could enjoy watching amazingly beautiful flowers and taking photos:)

 Mom enjoying a beautiful smell

Going up the slope, you will reach the top of the hill where big wisteria trees are appeared.

The smell was incredible!!

 Since a couple of years ago when it was known to all the world thorough the internet, it has become a very popular place not only among Japanese people but foreigners.

It was getting crowded after 10:00am when we left. If you have a chance to visit next year, I strongly recommend you to get there early in the morning.

The foreigners with my mom in the above shot told me that they left a hotel in Iwakuni at 4:30am.  But they said, "As we can have glorious view in such a calm atmosphere,  it paid off:) "

After we left the wisteria garden, went to a French restaurant, ETINCELLE KAWAMOTO

They serve authentic French dishes:) YUMMY!