Plants and Flowers in Tokyo by Kei Narujima　　東京の草花

Wintersweet (Chimonanthus Praecox)　ソシンロウバイ（蘇秦蝋梅）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

It was a surprise to me to see wintersweet starting to bloom but it was because I didn't know it flowers from November to February. The tree has just started to bloom, so looking for these buds and flowers to take pictures was like playing hide and seek with them.

2024/12/22

Camellia Sasanqua (Sasanqua Camellia)　山茶花（サザンカ）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Camellia, camellia, camellia! It’s my first time to see such big camellia sasanqua trees (4th photo) and my second time to see a camellia sasanqua tree having so many flowers! As you may know, the flowers of the sasanqua camellia and those of the Japanese camellia resemble each other but they're different in several ways, one of which is how a flower dies. A sasanqua flower dies with petals falling off one by one while a Japanese camellia flower falls off in its entirety.

2024/12/20

Kenilworth Ivy (Cymbalaria Muralis)　ツタバウンラン（蔦葉海蘭）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Our eyes met (or so I thought!). The kenilworth ivy (Cymbalaria muralis) is so hardy (or invasive?) that it still flowers in Tokyo. The plant usually flowers from March to August in Japan.

2024/12/28

Chinese Quince (Pseudocydonia Sinensis)　カリン（花梨）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I found these Chinese quince fruits (2nd photo) on the ground while on an early morning walk, took them home, and made jam! It sounds so simple but it wasn't because I had to go through certain "procedures" to make the jam!

First, I made sure that the garden where the Chinese quince trees grew was a public garden and then asked a man cleaning the garden if there were any specific procedures to go through to have the fruits. He said that there were no such procedures and that people just took them. He even told me that there were Chinese quince trees growing in another public garden nearby and the trees there must have many fruits. Wow!

You may wonder why I was such cautious but there's a reason for that. Some gardens in my neighborhood look public but actually are not and sometimes have "Don't pick fruit!" signs out of the blue. But now I've been cleared. I can get as many quinces as possible to make jam!

A week later, I happened to see him again, so I said thank you and he asked me if I was able to get the fruits. Of course I answered, "Yes I did and I made jam!" He was smiling and I was smiling, too. It was a very nice day!!

Chinese quince jam has a tart taste, so I added more sugar than when making other jam and it worked. The jam is sweet but also mildly sour, going well with yogurt. The Chinese quince is good for your health, i.e., decreasing bacterial growth, improving heart health, healing wounds faster, and relieving constipation. And you know what? Just looking at such beautiful orange color jam makes you happy!

If you're interested in pink Chinese quince flowers, scroll down.

2024/12/16 It's not sea urchin!!

December 2024

East Asian Eurya (Eurya Japonica)　姫榊（ヒサカキ）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are flowers of East Asian eurya (Eurya japonica). In Japan, the East Asian eurya is used for Shinto rituals. It's understandable that their flower language in Japan is "Respect deities."

2024/3/24

Maple Leaves in Autumn　もみじの紅葉

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Some leaves are still green but that makes the perfect color contrast between gradients from green to yellow, orange and red, and the clear blue sky.

Wax-Leaf Privet (Ligustrum Japonicum)　ネズミモチ（鼠糯）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Small oval shaped green fruits that caught my eye in October (3rd to 5th photos) have turned black. They're fruits of wax-leaf privet tree (Ligustrum japonicum) and used in herbal medicine. The tree is called "nezumi mochi," meaning "mouse mochi" because the fruit looks like mouse droppings and the leaves resemble those of the mochi tree or the elegance female holly (Ilex integra). The origin of the name made me want a bit to see mouse droppings.

2024/12/13

Burning Bush (Euonymus Alatus)　ニシキギ（錦木）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

The deep bright red color caught my eye. They're burning bush (Euonymus alatus). As the name suggests, the leaves look really "burning." The burning bush is called "nishiki gi" in Japanese, which means "brocade tree," after such beautiful red color of the leaves like brocade in autumn. The season of autumn leaves in Tokyo is nearing the end with still remaining leaves on a few trees like this.

2024/12/12

Aloe　アロエ

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Aloe flowers have started to open. I've been enjoying seeing them grow every morning. So far, I've resisted the urge to google pictures of the fully open flowers successfully. You sometimes need to be patient to fully enjoy something, don't you😉?

2024/12/11

Autumn Leaves - Their Way of Turning Red　紅葉してますけどそれが何か？

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I was doing jump rope and squats in a small park nearby this morning as usual, turned around, saw this, and murmured, "What the hell?," and then burst out laughing! Autumn leaves usually make me say "Wow" with their magnificent color gradients, but this vine of leaves caught my eye with not the bright red color but their way of being! Every leaf has their own way of turning red.

Hamilton's Spindletree (Euonymus Hamiltonianus)　マユミ（檀）

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

The arils of Hamilton's spindletree (Euonymus hamiltonianus) have dropped one after another. Its four-lobed pink fruit capsules and the bright red arils in the capsules were so adorable (3rd photo) that looking at empty capsules made me feel a bit sad.

I've been observing Hamilton's spindletree fruits turning from green to pink and then splitting open to reveal the red arils since late September. My next task😆 is to see its beautiful pale green flowers, which I've never seen, from spring to early summer next year.

A good thing about photographing plants is to make people talkative. When I was photographing the fruits in September, two women approached me asking what they were. I said they were the fruits of Hamilton's spindletree but the women insisted they should not be fruits but buds to flower soon. It was fun talking with strangers about little things.

2024/12/9

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