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.
The cherry blossoms are in bloom and the roses are growing new shoots in the garden. The colour of the leaves on the new shoots varies greatly depending on the variety of rose, from red to green. It will be about a month before the roses start to bloom in earnest, and we can hardly wait.
After the wild cherry blossoms quickly came into full bloom due to the May-like weather, the cherry blossoms have lasted longer because of the cold weather, with mid-winter-like cold air flowing in. From the bench at the top of the Bluebell garden, the wild cherry blossoms and mimosa flowers, which have started to bloom, can be seen against the backdrop of Itoshima Fuji mountain
Snowflake is one of the most typical spring-flowering bulb plants. Its very pretty little flowers are very popular. It is almost disease and pest-free and easy to grow both in the ground and in pots. It bloomed beautifully this year, a little later than usual.
On the slope between the main garden and the potager there used to be a large wild cherry tree with white flowers. It used to bloom very beautifully every year, but died a few years ago.
This wild cherry tree was dropping a lot of berries onto the potager below. And there were small seedlings growing here and there in the raised beds. I grew them in pots and planted one of them next to the lower entrance to the garden a few years ago.
And this year it produced a lot of flowers. After 20 years, it will grow into a magnificent wild cherry tree with magnificent flowers.
Plum flowers are blooming at the far left of the main garden. The pure white flowers and yellow-green leaves are very beautiful together. The variety is called Santa Rosa and the reddish-purple fruits are very sweet and sour. We are looking forward to another year of fruit.
The tête-à-tête is a small yellow daffodil with very pretty flowers. I have been growing them in pots for a long time. It is one of the flowers that make me realise that spring has arrived. And the muscari, another potted bulb plant, has beautiful blue-coloured flowers. Both are regulars in our garden in early spring.
Yellow dust has been flying in from mainland China since yesterday, making the sky a little yellow and hazy. The sunrise is not so dazzling because of this. I hope it will soon go away to the east on the westerly wind.