My wife and I started gardening in Fukuoka (Japan) in 2003. There was nothing but muddy clayey sloping land. At the beginning we made several structure such as steps and paths, and planted turf, fruit trees, roses, herbs etc.
In 2010, we visited several famous English gardens, including Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Mottisfont Abbey Garden and Hidcote Manor Garden. We were shocked by the glory of those gardens. Since then, we have been trying to make small but glorious gardens by ourselves.
Chinese violet cress blooms here and there in the garden from March to April. It self-seeds and grows every year, producing beautiful purple flowers. The bright green leaves are lovely too. On fine days, several bees fly in to feed on the nectar.
I noticed today that the wild cherry tree in the garden has produced a dozen or so blossoms. It is still a young tree, having been planted only several years ago. It began flowering the year before last.
This young tree was grown from a seedling that came from a large wild cherry tree that stood here until about ten years ago. The wild cherry fruits had fallen into the raised beds in the potager below, and several small seedlings had grown from them. I planted one of these next to the entrance to the garden.
From a distance, it still looks as though it hasn’t bloomed, but when I looked closely, I saw one or two blossoms here and there, which made me very happy. I’m looking forward to seeing it in full bloom.
It is now mid-March and the roses in the garden are beginning to bud. Along the brick wall, the Pat Austin and Graham Thomas on the right are producing plenty of new shoots. The Gertrude Jekyll on the left is a little behind, but this is the case every year. The Angela above the arch is also sprouting profusely. Looking down from the balcony onto the potager garden, the flower buds of the Rosa banksiae—the earliest bloomer in the garden—are beginning to swell slightly. The shrub roses in the potager’s border beds are also sprouting. The roses will be in full bloom from early May onwards.
Borage is an annual herb notable for its striking blue star-shaped flowers. Its leaves and stems, covered in white hairs, possess a cucumber-like fragrance. Historically, it was regarded as a medicinal herb believed to lift spirits and impart courage. The flowers begin as pink, gradually changing to a cool blue. As an edible flower, the fresh calyxes are removed and scattered over salads, preserved in sugar to decorate cakes, or frozen into ice cubes to float in chilled drinks.
In our garden, it self-seeds and grows here and there each year. As the flowers begin to bloom in March, flower bees are drawn to them. Flower bees are vital for pollinating the fruit trees we grow in the garden, such as plums and blueberries, so the borage flowers serve a useful purpose in this regard too.
It's time to plant the potatoes, so I harvested all the vegetables from the raised bed where I plan to plant them. These included beetroot, Swiss chard, and spinach. We removed weeds and plant roots to prepare the bed for planting potatoes. We then planted the seed potatoes we had saved from last December. Fertiliser was placed between the seed potatoes. Flowers are expected to bloom in two months, with harvesting planned for three months later.
This camellia tree, bearing small flowers with pale pink petals, was planted from a seedling purchased some twenty years ago. It has gradually grown larger and now bears countless blossoms. It truly is a camellia of the most elegant floral hue.