Perennial

Easter is celebrated only by Christians here in Japan. There are no Easter products in stores here. We used to dye eggs and take them to our little friends in the neighborhood. Now that Big Sister and Little Brother and all their friends in the neighborhood are older, we just dye eggs for our family. Big Sister and Little Brother (and friends if they're around) still hide plastic eggs in the garden. It's still fun.

Here are some old friends that show up in our garden every year. They are called perennials. The picture above is bleeding hearts. They come up from a tuber every year. Click to enlarge.

Forget-me-nots or Mary's Eyes. These aren't really perennials, I guess, but they reseed themselves every year. I plant them every year.

Geraniums. Our plants are several years old. This is a new blossom. They have a long blooming season every year.

Anemones. These die back, then come up, and bloom every year.

Carolina jasmine blooms every year. Our potted plant is over six years old.

St John's Wort is planted in the garden. It is just a stick in the winter, but then leafs out and blooms.

Lavendar in a pot. This plant is older than Little Brother! It's around 13 years old. It stays green in the winter.

Freesia is planted with the yuzu tree. It comes up and blooms every spring. The yuzu tree doesn't look very good. The caterpillars ate it up last summer. It's still a stick.

Wisteria is just starting to leaf out. There are a few blooms for the first time in years!

Violets. There is a row of violets planted near this pot of clover and bamboo. Seeds blew into this pot, so now there are violets in the pot, too.

Laurel. Actually, this is the first time this has bloomed. It wasn't pruned last fall, so maybe it blooms on old wood.

Peach blossom. This is not sakura.