May 8 flowers and trees

Yamaboshi (Japanese dogwood?) flowers are coming along.




















Yellow iris. See, Mom, they do exist!




















Pink ostespermum and mystery blue flower. It blooms really prettily every morning and drops all its blossoms by early afternoon. Anyone?













The Japanese red maple is starting to turn a bit green. It starts red in the spring, turns green in the summer, and back to red in the fall. The magnolia (background) is already finished blooming. It was only a few days.












The green Japanese maple is starting to turn a bit red at the edges. It would be kind of neat if they changed colors and then went back again.

butterfly and herbs

I caught this butterfly (not literally) just after it emerged from it's cocoon.














Chives. Am I supposed to cut the flowers off?















Oregano is really coming along. Maybe I need to join the pizza oven making trend.



















iris, again.















Cherry tomatoes weren't so happy about the cold temperatures the past few nights. They are starting to get some brown spots, but I hope they pull through now that spring has returned.

flowers

purple iris. I was hoping for the really slender deep purple ones like in father-in-law's garden, but this wasn't it. I will have to remember to ask him for bulbs this fall.













M really wanted this sweet pea last fall (I think just because it is pink).
correction: It is a snap dragon. Thank you, Vicky!














Babiana (?) blooming




















yard from above




and ground level

flowers 4/16/09

I decided to try out a delphinium this year to see how it does.




















I think these are called babiana. I was beginning to think they were going to produce nothing but foliage, as all the others in the neighborhood started blooming almost 2 months ago, but finally they are producing buds.

















irises















magnolia















Sunflowers coming up (elves blend)















These were part of a "blue flower mix" seed packet I planted last year. They have resown themselves. Lots of little blue flowers until they get done in by aphids.

flowers

The yellow and white irises are blooming. My mother always insists there is no such thing as yellow irises.



















I saw an ad in one of the free magazines for a park with a big field where kids could go pick dandelions. It must be aimed at downtown kids. This is the embankment behind our house, but they are rampant alongside every rice field.












The girls gift me with large bouquets daily.















My main osteospermum (Thanks for the name, Vicky!) is blooming its little heart out now.














The periwinkle by the side of the house is coming along. I'd like to fill some of that space with periwinkle, but my husband is very opposed to vines unless they come with cucumbers attached.












One of my weird little flower shop acquisitions, blooming. Why do I frequent it? I have never encountered less friendly service in Japan. Downright surly. The prices can't be beat, however. And the excitement of waiting for a mystery flower to bloom is rather enticing.










This one had really pretty pink flowers when I got it (from the garden center), but didn't bloom at all last year. I was happy to see that it is looking like it will flower this year.












My father-in-law kindly gave us an Emperor Dahlia. Not our favorite, truth be told, but it will be cheerful at a time when not much else is blooming. We planting it by the embankment, so it can be seen from the road (and not so much from the house).

flowers and repotted tomatoes

iris in the morning















and in the afternoon















cornflower. I was hoping to get these growing wild on the embankment, but despite all the seeds I shook out here last year, only two have grown.











I am hoping to naturalize daffodils on the embankment, too. I planted this this past fall (2008)














I moved the tomatoes into bigger pots today, which gives me an excuse to post more photos of them. I buried the stems to strengthen the roots. Still, the tallest were only 5cm or so. I had a shock this morning at the garden store when I saw their tomatoes plants are 25 cm. Wow! I will just tell myself they must give them all sorts of nasty chemical fertilizers to achieve that, right?

I planted nasturtiums by the daffodils yesterday. I am hoping they grow quickly to disguise the daffodil leaves.














Last year our irises bloomed one color at a time. This year they seem to be coming together, which is nice.














white too















baby carrots are starting to get real leaves
















mystery vine, cucumber? zucchini? pumpkin? sprouted from one of our patches dh made ready for lettuce

flowers

difficult name starting with o... Common name anyone? transplanted last week and doing well














first iris of the year















marigolds starting to sprout















rosemary outdoing itself

March 30 2009 mostly flowers

Anenomes, pansies, and serveral others I don't know the names in English. The Japanese red maple leaves are starting to come out.















Daffodils, pansies, and soon...irises. The crocuses finished last week.














Daffodils, narcissus, rose of sharon that were just twigs last year
















Pink and blue flowers















Herb garden. The rosemary is out of control. The basil is still just starting, so some failed kohlrabi are currently taking up space on the right.

May 11, 2008

yard, Japanese dogwood in the front, Japanese red maple by the bench, magnolia with small (for a magnolia) pale yellow flowers on the right















the embankment to the south, still fluffy with 2m high weeds














What is a creature with the body of a cat and the head of a yellow iris called?



















cucumbers
















trees from the left, red maple, summer camelia, ??, Japanese green maple















strawberries to the left (I picked off all the flowers so no strawberries in 2008), tomatoes to the right of the strawberries, the unfortunate green peas behind the tomatoes and cucumbers to the left. Summer camelia behind the slide, green Japanese maple front right, and I don't know what the tree behind it is called.