Several plums have spontaneously fallen and many have turned red.
Plums in a high point of the tree couldn't be reached. I recalled a tool made more than 20 years ago. At that time I was used to go forest to pick wild fruits, especially Akebia quinata and Akebia trifoliata.
The tool is a fishing rod with a net on the top. It extends up to 15 feet.
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| A ripe plum is covered with net. |
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| Pull the rod, and the plum is got. It's quite easy! |
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| Twenty plums are harvested. |
Pictures below were shot in the ravine forest in early 2000s. We had been there every autumn to harvest akebi fruits.
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| My wife is getting akebi by using the fully extended tool. |
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| Akebi tastes sweet. |
Now we have Akebia (both wild and cultivar) in our garden and we don't need to go there.
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| A wild species of Akebia trifoliata |
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| A cultivar variety of Akebia trifoliata, pure purple. |
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| Wild species is much more beautiful than a cultivar. |
When we visited the Netherlands in 1996 with our sons, I saw a old akebi plant at Leiden Botanical Garden, which is brought by Philipp Franz von Siebold in the middle of the 19th century. He was a German physician and botanist. He taught some Japanese Western medicine in Nagashaki, Japan.
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| Dr. Siebold (from Wikipedia) |
He was the man who first introduced to Europe familiar garden plants such as the hosta and the hydrangea, and according to the Wikipedia he also introduced knotweed which is one of the world's worst invasive species listed by the World Conservation Union.
We have 2 Akebia Quinata climbers in the garden both flower but never fruit (too cold I suppose?) very informative post...thank you
ReplyDeleteEvery year I pollinate between a wild and cultivar variety by myself because they flower in early spring and no pollinator has not come yet.
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