Lavender season in my balcony

Here in Japan is very common to have people traveling north to Hokkaido for the summer holidays, and one of the popular things to do there is visit the lavender farms in the area. I was lucky and had a chance to visit on my first year in Japan. Growing lavender is a big deal in Hokkaido. From what saw they treat the season in a similar way to how they treat sakura season. They have festivals, special lavender food, lavender designs and many products related. It is very fun place to be. Before my visit, I had never seen any lavender farms, so it was a great surprise to see all the never ending fields of purple and walk among the trails. It was an amazing experience.

my lavender

So, after my visit to the lavender farms that year, of course I had to have some lavender growing in the garden. I got a plant last autumn and took care of it hoping for some summer blooms. It grew a bit during the winter and even more in spring. Finally it started blooming in May, a bit earlier that I expected, but no complains, It was probably just another effect of the vacation drought of spring.

Now after blooming nicely all June, it seems to be starting to stop, so I decided to cut away the flowers that are left and let it grow for the next year.

See you next year

It was very fun to grow lavender, I had never had a chance to do it before. Even though is a very small plant the scent it produced was very strong, specially in the mornings when I the light wind made it come into the room from the balcony. Hopefully it will give a great display again next season, but for now I say good bye, is time to rest.

The calla lilies are blooming

This year I have a lot of calla lilies growing in the garden, and they all seem to be growing very well. I have my old and reliable batch of pink callas that started from a single plant, and now also a bunch of assorted different colored ones.

Now I have a lot of colors for the calla lily

Seeing so many flowers is great, because I wasn't expecting many calla flowers this summer. I had a small hiccup early this year when the bulbs I stored indoors started sprouting in mid winter. I took them out to sleep once again, but I thought that they will lose their strength and give very few flowers when the season came.

The pink ones are blooming nicely

Also, I wasn't expecting many flowers from the new plants. When I got those they were just a batch of unhealthy looking and very small bulbs. I had no idea what colors or types they were, just that they were different. My plan was to grow them for a year and to let them gain strength, then on the next season I would see what colors I got and plan accordingly.

This yellow calla lily was a nice surprise

So, I am very happy to see many nice callas blooming. The pinks are doing well, and from the new ones I got three different colors so far, but there are other 3 plants that I think will bloom too.

I usually let flowers be at the garden and not cut them from the plant, but occasionally I like taking a couple blooms in the house just to enjoy having them inside too. The calla lilies are great for that because they make amazing cut flowers. They last long, look very good and the plant recovers very well from plucking some blooms.

Calla lilies make great cut flowers

I think they look great on a bottle of wine, what do you think?

Sakura in Tokyo

It has been almost two weeks since I got back from Mexico, and everything here in Tokyo seem to be happening normally. Life continues as usual, the weather changes, spring is here and the Sakura are in full bloom. However, there are still a lot of things going on. We still get aftershocks now and then, the nuclear power plants are still an issue, and the lack of electricity still has effect on everyday life. And also, of course, Northern Japan still has a long way to recover from the devastating scars the tsunami left. For Japan, this will be a period of renewal and resurrection, It has to revitalize itself and rise from the catastrophe.

The blooming of the Sakura in Japan

Spring and the blooming of the sakura (cherry blossom) arrived on the best moment possible. They are gorgeous, inspiring, and help us see beyond the problems we are experiencing. I trust Japan will recover from this disaster very well. The same way that the cherry tree loses all its leafs during the hardships of winter, only to blossom with beautiful sakura afterwards.

Seeing the sakura blossoming is wonderful. They cheer up the mood and bring back the smiles in people’s faces. They give us hope.

The sakura in full bloom

Here in Japan going to see and enjoy the beauty of flowers is a very old tradition called Hanami (花見 "flower viewing"). Going to see the sakura is so important that even the national weather bureau keeps a very tight track of when the trees will bloom. They also have many festivals around and many sakura related events, promotions, decorations, food, and other products.

Cherry blossoms at Ueno Park

The blooms also look amazing at night

Sakura at the entrance of the imperial palace

Nowadays, hanami usually consists of having an outdoor party or a little pick nick under the sakura trees. In some parts, food stands are set close to the viewing areas and a little festival is held. Also, many parks also hang paper lamps temporarily to help people see the blooms at nighttime and to intensify the beauty of the flowers.

Millions of people gather for hanami all around Japan

Here in Tokyo it the blooming of the sakura usually happens around the beginning of April, and depending on the weather, last a week or two. Every year most Japanese people go out whenever they have some time and have hanami, even people from other countries come on those days to enjoy the blossoms.

They look like a little cloud or a big white cotton candy

All around Tokyo they are many great places for enjoying hanami because sakura trees are very popular plant to have. You can always find a great mature tree even when walking along the little alleys in the suburban areas. However, most people concentrate on the biggest parks, so it can get very crowded there at times, but it all contributes to the festivity feeling it all has.

You can see a lot of sakura even from the trains

I got very lucky, close to my new house there is a river all bordered by sakura trees. It is a very calm place and walking along the view is just amazing.

This is the sakura bordered river close to my house

I must try rowing with a special girl under the sakura trees someday

Please help japan with a donation or good thoughts.

My best hope for those in Japan. You can help donate here.

Amazon

Google Checkout

Donation For Japan Earthquake 11th March 2011

American Red Cross

International Medical Corps

AmeriCares

Donate with Paypal

causes.com

Spring in Tokyo, Japan

I am already settled at the new house, but I still hardly know anything about the new neighborhood. So to try and fix that I went around with my bike. I was very happy to see spring going full bloom everywhere.

Spring is here

One of the things I like most about japan, is that they have a great gardening culture. In almost every corner you can find a small patch of green or a couple pots that are being taken care of diligently. So it is always easy to find some flowers around.

It is an amazing neighborhood, right in the middle of tokyo. Now everything feels like a bike ride away, is much more convenient than the old apartment. I am less than half an hour bike ride from the university campus, the emperor palace and from many other big stations.

We even have a great river surrounded with sakura, they look amazing now that they are in blossom. I will make a full post about that later on.

I will do a full post on sakura

But for now a small preview

I was also happy to see they have a small garden center around, so I won't be out of resources around here. They also have a lot of little flower shops where they sell potted plants.

The new place location is great, but i still have a lot more to explore, in the meantime, here is a little bit more of the spring in Tokyo.

Please help japan with a donation or good thoughts.

My best hope for those in Japan. You can help donate here.

Amazon

Google Checkout

Donation For Japan Earthquake 11th March 2011

American Red Cross

International Medical Corps

AmeriCares

Donate with Paypal

causes.com

My Bougainvillea

One of the favorite plants on my garden at Mexico is my Bougainvillea. It is a beautiful bush/tree that blooms and continues growing all year round. Almost everybody compliments on it, and it has been one of the landmarks for our house.

My bugambilia in full bloom

Last time I came to Mexico, I had introduce it. But back then, because we had had some very strong winds that took down a lot of the flowers, I was not able to show it on its full glory. This time I was more lucky and got to take a photo of it on its prime.

We have around ten different plants on the garden. They started as little plants that we put around the outer fence. At one point they took over the whole front and looked amazing, but they grew too thick, so we decided to prune them in a tree form better. Also, at the beginning they had rarely any blooms. But, one time when we were at the garden, we (my father and I) said that it might be good to prune it away, because it didn't seem like flowering much. Since that time it started flowering like crazy to the point that my dad never ever wants to prune it at all.

The other bugambilias are also blooming nicely

The biggest bugambilia (spanish) we have are actually two different plants. They grew so big that they mixed together and made one big bunch. They look amazing all bloomed, we are so happy it decided to flower already. Other thing, after they started blooming so much, my dad started getting cuttings from them and planting more around the house. Now we have one on the sidewalk and others on the back. Even my grandmother has one at her house from our garden. They all seem to be growing nice.

It is a very beautiful plant to have, and I would recommend it to anybody with a big and sunny space to fill.

Please help japan with a donation or good thoughts.

My best hope for those in Japan. You can help donate here.

Amazon

Google Checkout

Donation For Japan Earthquake 11th March 2011

American Red Cross

International Medical Corps

AmeriCares

Donate with Paypal

causes.com

Spring is almost here

These past days have been quite a handful. I have to sort out the moving, wrap up everything at school and get ready to go to Mexico, also, it snowed again today. So, I wanted this post to help keep my spirit up and hopefully everyone else along with mine. I got a great response on my flower box post last time, and I also got some mails asking me about all the flowers on my balcony. So here they are, this are the flowers currently blooming on my balcony. May everybody get some spring soon!

Bye the way. I think is about time we have another carnival. How about we make one for early April. I think a spring theme will fit. Maybe on about how to get ready for spring, or about what is going to be in your garden this spring? Any other suggestions?

I really like this purple

I haven't introduced them all, but I will soon

The no-banana-milkshake flower box is recovering

The rosemary is in full bloom

I already started on the shopping spree

The bees are going to love this daisy

The lavender started to open up

Hope you get some spring soon!

Oh! I forgot to put the pantsies, the stock and the alyssum... I will add more photos tomorrow.

One more flowerbox ready for the garden!

Last week I got a couple more plants to fill the last flower box together with the baby primrose, the lavender and the chocolate cosmos. As always I got a bit carried away and got more than I could fit, but I don't have any regrets. The new flowerbox looks amazing! I hope it will keep growing nicely all spring.

More flowers for my garden!

Unfortunately, a bit before I had a chance to set up the new flowerbox, we had a night of very strong winds (one of the drawbacks from living in a sky rise). The wind knocked over the chocolate cosmos and broke the plant. It wasn't a fatal wound, but I think is better to give it some time to recover before transplanting it. So, only the lavender and the baby primrose could go in the new flower box.

I got a couple more nice flowers to live along in that planter. I decided to go with a couple of perennials this time, just for a change, but I still tuck a couple annuals along too.

• Baby primrose. Last time I had gotten the white one, but they look so great I could not resist and got a purple one too.

fairy primrose, it looks like little butterfly wings

• Daisy. I am not sure of the variety, I could not find a translation to english, but I like this kind. They look like little pompons when they are about to open. I got a red and a white, they look very nice together.

This red one is one of my favorites

I hope the bees will be happy this spring

• Osteospermum. I was not sure if growing three perennials on the same pot would be good, because I don't want to compete among each other when they grow. But, how could I resist? the flowers look amazing. I will trim the roots often if I have to. I just hope it blooms for a long time.

I also got a purple osteospermum, they look great

Spring is almost here

Having the new flowers blooming makes it feel so much like spring is here already, hopefully they will grow well in there. I still have to find a place for the chocolate cosmos, but I still have to make some more planning for that.