blooming!

England is a country of roses... Although the climate in England is not really suitable for growing roses, people love the flower and make so much effort to have the gorgeous success on their rose bushes. The fact that there are so many beautiful rose gardens in this country shows the British people's love for roses.

The rose in my little garden bloomed today.
As the bud grow bigger, it spread the strong scent.
Today the rose flower opened like this. See the photo below.




Isn't it gorgeous???

cherry blossoms

I found cherry flowers blooming on the school campus.






Today's highest temperature in this area was only 1°C. It is a bit too cold for cherry blossoms, isn't it?


This is a cherry tree which has bit sour cherries in early summer. It is not exactly cherry flowers from Japan, but this reminds me Japan. Also this is nice for new year, isn't it??


Another photo that shows Japanese tradition is here.




Tiny ORIGAMI crane, which is the most popular pattern of origami. I made this a few days ago using a wrapping paper.




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balloon flower

One of the things I miss about Japan is a flower called a "balloon flower," "kikyou" in Japanese. There is a same kind of flower of same family in England, but the Japanese balloon flower has different taste than English one.

Hearing my admiration for the flower, my mother sent a piece of root dug from her garden. In the early spring in this year, I put the root in my plant bed, and had longed for the day of blooming.

It was September when I found a tiny buds on the thin stems. Since then I have observed the little plant awaiting for the flower.


When I saw the flower blooming the other day, I got disappointed....

That was not right kind. That was not THE kikyou that I had been longing. I wanted the original kind with single layer petals......

Still it is a beautiful flower, so I upload its photo.



...Do you like it??


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Blooming!

Now various flowers are blooming and are adding colours in our little court yard.




Confrey. This weed-like plant grows everywhere and becomes good natural fertilizer. Also this can be used to make cosmetics and natural remedies as it has healing effects for skin and circulation.



Thyme. This is growing as a border in my plant bed. It has a good smell and can add nice taste to dishes.



Foxglove. This is a common wild flower that can be seen in a cottage garden.



Here is a honeysuckle. Now this climber has gotten a blackbird nest in it.



Many more flowers are gorgeously blooming now, and more will be appearing!
Let me update other flowers later!



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nice day

We are now in the best season in England.
We had such a beautiful day here in England today. Blue clear sky was above us, warm breeze refreshed us.

The day after three-day off with this weather could be tough for teachers. Since most of the pupils feel relaxed more than necessary, and they didn't feel like working on the day like this.

I can understand them. Even adults are so happy under this blue sky, because our general weather is gray, cloudy, wet and rainy in England. Before I live in England, I couldn't imagine how much weather could affect human. But now I understand that this depressing weather affects people heavily here.

So....., under this blue sky, pupils were all over, couldn't descipline themselves...



It's OK. They should fully enjoy this weather now, since this nice season is very short... .....Of course they should be engaged in the lessons though.




**************
Here are some photos from my garden.


Calendulla.
This should be annual, but somehow it survived through the winter. Now they are blooming!



Lily of the valley.
They are cute and strong plants. Every spring they come back and bloom a lot!



Japanese azalea is now in full bloom!
Isn't it gorgeous?
I am proud of this flower that came from my country!



Blue berry flowers.
I bought two blue berry plants this year.
They are still small and I don't expect harvest.
But it is nice to see a few flowers on them.



And...., this is a part of my garden.
It looks quite nice on this photo, doesn't it? :D



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in my garden

The most beautiful season in England is nearly there! Flowers are blooming, adding the colours to our sight.

In my little garden, some flowers are blooming.


I once uploaded a photo of this plant, without knowing its name. I still don't know the name..., but the red shoots are beautiful.


This is the "forget-me-not," that I have shown a photo in this blog when it started blooming. Now it is in full bloom! This is a weed kind of flower, and can grow everywhere. It is very low maintenance plants.

If I had a large garden, I want to fill the whole garden with the forget-me-not. It would be terrific!


Look at this! Our multiple-petaled cherry blossoms. Isn't it gorgeous? I prefer Japanese "somei-yoshino" better though...:D



...And, one more photo.


They are the most beautiful in my garden.
Don't ask me WHAT. Don't you see the two kids in blue?
They are the best! :D


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Little pleasure

This is recent my little pleasure --- They are special gifts from the earth, something that gives me a joy of spring! They are tiny shoots but it is so amazing to see how much energy these plants have!

Lettuce

Spicy salad ... whatever it is...

Basil ... MUST item in my kitchen.

Tomato ... hope I can harvest some... :D


Am I greedy...?


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sprout

I sometimes grow sprouts. Various kinds of sprouts can be grown by water culture. I often grow mustard sprouts, soy bean sprouts and chick pea sprouts.

Yesterday I found this(↓) in my kitchen cupboard.



Overgrown sprouts.......

They are mung bean sprouts which are the most common sprouts in Japan, and called "moyashi" in Japanese.

We can buy moyashi in a supermarket in England. But why don't they have ORGANIC moyashi? This has been a big question for me.

Think about growing sprouts in water. They need only water. They don't need any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. If they fill the minimum requirements to name it "organic", they would do it to add the value on the vegetable. So if they don't say "organic", that would be definitely non-organic.....I guess.

Why they are not organic?????

I don't understand it, but it is safer to grow my own vegetables anyway. I can chose the seeds/beans, soil/water, and environment to grow them.

Unfortunately I don't have enough land to grow veggies, but water culture can be easily done in my little kitchen!



They taste better (I believe), and of course they are safer!
They are grown from organic beans, and grew in my cupboard in filtered water!
It is easy to grow, and reasonable.


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Spring

Spring comes late in England.
We have been waiting for the bright warm season throughout the long grey winter!!


Now I see some signs of spring in my little court yard finally.

Look at these photos!

I love this little cute flower called "forget-me-not."

"Snow drops" This is one of the flowers that bloom in the earliest spring.

"Narcissus" In this season, there are many groups of narcissus everywhere in this country.

"Japanese azaleas" are almost ready to bloom! They bloom earlier than in Japan.

I remember this bush I saw in Japan. I believe this is quite common in Japan, though I don't know its name. Please tell me the name if you know it!

"Red currant"
I bought this little tree which will grow to be a bush with lots of berries! Hope I can make some jam or cake with the crops. Even if we don't have enough to make jam, it would be great to pick and eat some berries off the tree!

"Blue berries"
This is one of the most popular berries in Japan. Of course in England as well.

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gardening

Now I am in the middle of the Easter break!

I am very pleased to be able to focus on my own study during the break, but it is also good to work physically outside.

It is getting a nice season even in this dark England, although it hailed on the last three days. Now it is a time to prepare for beautiful flower season!

Yes, I need to work in my garden now if I want to enjoy beautiful garden this summer!


In the back of my house, there is one big plant bed, which is about 2.5m by 12m. It is on the north side of the building, also there is a tall fur tree nearby that gives big shadow over the bed. So half of the bed can get only a little bit of sunlight for a few hours a day and the other half can have no sunlight at all. The problem is not only the shade but rain. Because of the tall tree by the bed, the tree branches block a third of the bed from the rain.....

It is a tough place for a gardener.

What can I do with this waste land!?
Do you have any ideas for this poor beginner gardener?

Anyway I dug the bed today, transplanted some plants there, and planted some roots of bush that will have nice pink flowers...if it grow well. The instruction said this bush is suitable for shady place, so I hope it will grow all right.


I felt good after I worked outside in the garden. It is very important to have a balance between physical work and intellectual work. Each work stimulate each other.

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