Spring Equinox

It was a national holiday today here in Japan. Tokyo weather was springy for the equinox. I spent time in the garden looking at all the buds and greenery coming out and up. I was happy to see so many buds on this fruitless peach tree! I've been worried about it in the past. Here are two posts about the tree in March 2010.

I was really worried about Great-grandfather's bonsai plum trees this year. They bloomed over a month late! They usually bloom in February.

I'm glad they bloomed, but they are scraggly. I am responsible for them and I must do a better job! Actually, most plum trees in the area have bloomed late this year so it's not all my fault. Last summer was overly hot and dry.

Ume Bonsai

Great-grandfather's ume bonsai are blooming. He has been gone for 17 years but his trees still bloom.

Pine Bonsai

Click on the picture to have a good look at this beautiful tree. It lives in a garden around the corner. It is matsu, pine.

Our name, Chikamatsu, means "near the pine".

Ume

These ume bonsai trees were great grandfather's. They have been in the garden for several decades. Ume or plum trees bloom at the end of January or early February.

There are parks devoted to big ume trees. There used to be a field of ume trees down the street from us. At the Jindai Botanical Gardens, there is a section of ume trees.

People go plum blossom viewing. They don't have parties and picnics under the trees like they do under cherry trees in the spring.

Here are the bonsai trees a few weeks ago. These trees bloom in the dead of winter. It is a precious sight.

Winter Bonsai

These bonsai trees were on display at our city office. It's nice that the bare trees are appreciated.

This is a pine tree, matsu.

Favorite Bonsai There

 

This was our favorite.

Around a Small Town in Niigata Prefecture

Niigata Prefecture, a district in northern Japan, is known among other things for its very good rice. There are rice paddies or fields everywhere. The paddies outside town are commercial. The rice is sold all over Japan. There are paddies in town, too. That rice is grown only for the family who farms it to eat. The picture above is rice. At this point in its growing cycle it is bright yellow green. The rice was beautiful on this sunny day, but almost blinding. It was so bright!


This is the irrigation system of one of the paddies. I believe that's grass along the center.




Though we had sunny days for our visit, Japan has received more rain than usual this year. Everyone is concerned about the rice and other crops. It seemed every house here had a rice paddy or a garden or even both. This gardener is protecting her tomatoes from rain. The umbrellas are clear plastic so the tomato plants can still get the sun when its out. In April, I posted about a gardener in Tokyo who put an umbrella over her azaleas.




Walking around town we came across this scene. After the big earthquake in the area two years ago, this family put portable toilets behind their house. Can you see the man in front of the toilets emptying them with a hose attached to the truck? Having portable toilets in your back garden is not common. At one time, however, non-flush toilets were common in Japan. Someone would come along with a wagon to empty them. Nowadays, there are houses with non-flush toilets and trucks like this one come by to empty them. Let's just say that even though the process has surely improved over the centuries, it's not a pleasant job.




This rock was behind another house down the street from the toilets. This gardener planted bonsai or miniature trees on it. It was impressive how these trees could grow on a rock.