Getting through the Bamboo Tunnel led to...

Why don't we get through this bamboo tunnel?

It is incredible to go through such a tunnel in a city, Yokohama... 

Coming out of the tunnel, what jumps out is an old Japanese traditional house...

It has fern garden:)

I felt as if I had been transported through time...

This house is more than 50-years old and was renovated and repurposed as a cafe and restaurant :-)

You can enjoy Japanese home cuisine in a comfortable wooden room.

And you may see such a starling, a bird:)

               Of course, I had Warabi-mochi , Japanese traditional dessert, and ice cream:-)

Dusty Miller Wreath ----Using Plants in My Garden---

Hi everyone,

I like decorating my living room with plants from my garden:)

Today, want to share a white wreath I've made using dusty miller in my balcony.

Gathered a bunch of dusty miller leaves and dried them for about a week.

And glued each leaf to the wreath base.

It took about only an hour to finish:-)

Hanged it on an iron panel.


This is my favorite corner where I placed various handcrafts:)

I'm now into flower pressing, of course this hellebore was picked up from my garden:)

I'll post other works, next time!

It is fun to make something to decorate using plants.


Do you have any good idea to use plants from your garden?

Blue-Colored Hill...Nemophila...

Hello! 

I hope you are all enjoying your week…

Today, I want to share some images of my favorite place where I'd been wanting to go for a long time:)

Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki prefecture is located in the northeast of Tokyo.

It takes about an hour from Tokyo by train.

About 4.5 million nemophila flowers painted the hills!!

We have had an abnormally warm winter this year, which gives us rare opportunity...

YES !!!

We can enjoy the bloom of rapeseed (yellow), nemophila (blue), cherry blossoms (pale pink) at a time :-)

It seemed like a heaven....

If you have a chance to come here in Japan in spring, you should visit here :-)

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2016

Spring has come here in Japan. I spend more time at my balcony.

Let's take a look at what's flowering in my garden!

Hellebore

Oh... The number of plants producing flowers seems to be fewer than I expected, ahaha... 

Okay, I marked red circles on the images to identity them easily.

Firstly, show you the western part of my balcony. Three plants are flowering, including the above hellebore.

Rosemary

Hellebore

And this corner below is mainly consist of trailing roses, but they have yet to produce any flowers.

Can see only tulip here,

Tulip "Spring Green"

This Tulip "Spring Green" changes in color from greenish yellow to white, as time goes on.

I like color changing flowers:-)

And let me show you my favorite area:) I put the hellebore in an iron birdcage, it is full in bloom now.

Hellebore

I built some shelves on the wall, and put a few pots.

Glechoma Variegata

Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum

This Viburnum flower will also changes in color from greenish yellow to white  as the tulip above:-)

Lastly, I would like to show you this corner at the other end of my garden.

Vinca Major

Maybe you cannot notice this viola in the image above. This is flowering just at the foot of Vinca Major. 

Viola "Labradorica"

This viola is a native plant here in Japan, so you can see them growing wild along roadside here and there.
I don't remember planting this, so, a bird delivered its seeds here, I guess:-)

  

Apple Mint

This Reeves Spirea  has many　tiny pink buds which are about to unfold.   This is different species from the original ones. As you can see, the leaves have white spots on them.

Reeves Spirea 

These buds will burst into white flowers tomorrow, I guess:-)

Hellebore

Basically I love the color combination of white and purple, so have been trying to collect plants producing flowers in these two colors.

By the way, do you have any flowers which change the colors as time proceeds?

Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day !

Helleborus Flowers Floating on the Water

I like helleborus flowers floating on the water

They are now in full bloom in my balcony. 

"Cannot see your faces;-(

Why do you keep your heads lowered?"

I've cut and put them on the water.

"Finally, can see your lovely faces:-)"

Cherry blossoms outside of the window also make me happy:)

Cherry Blossoms in Japan

Resume this blog after an interval of almost one year...

What made me post this blog was cherry blossoms I saw last week...

My favorite season, Spring has come:)

Nothing says cherry blossoms like Dango, sweet rice dumpling.

It was the happiest moment to have a Dango viewing beautiful cherry blossoms:)

In Japan, cherry blossom is said to herald the coming of spring.

What is the sign of the coming of spring in your country?