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.
We've been growing a few hellebores in my garden in the ground. They are just in full bloom now. They are the usual pink and white varieties, but they look gorgeous when they bloom together.
Some of the flowers are left in place after they have finished flowering, and the seeds are saved. Also, small seedlings are growing from spilled seeds. If I take good care of them, they will multiply and become even more gorgeous.
Hardenbergia is a vine that begins to bloom in February. The pink and purple varieties are growing on either side of the arbor seat on the east side of the garden. Small flowers bloom in clusters, and upon closer inspection, one can see that they are legumes. When these flowers are over, spring will be in full swing in the garden.
On the right side of the arbor seat is a variety with pink flowers.
屋根付きベンチの右側はピンク色の花をつける品種です.
And on the left side of the arbor seat is a variety with purple flowers.
そして、左側には紫色の花をつける品種が育っています.
The plants in the flowerbed are Echium candicans on the left, Agapanthus on the right, and the white flowers in the urns (cup-shaped pots) are Super Alyssum.
It was January 2011 when the brick wall was completed in our main garden and the bench was installed in front of it. Since 2012, the climbing roses have bloomed beautifully behind the bench every year. The bench is made of teak wood and has been maintained every winter with a coat of teak oil. My wife is in charge of it, and she just finished it. Thanks to the maintenance, there is little damage. This year, I hope that many visitors will sit on this bench in the open garden to enjoy the wonderful fragrance of roses and take photos.
I bought a seedling of Acanthus mollis in 2015 and planted it in my garden. The seedling grew year by year and produced many flowering spikes in the past two years. The flowers are wonderful, of course, but the beauty of the foliage is also exceptional.
Last autumn, I divided the plants in two parts and transplanted one under the plum tree where I grew hostas. And even in the cold of winter, surrounded by oxalis, the leaves are growing.
William Morris used these beautiful leaves as a motif for his bold wallpaper designs in 1874. I saw the designs at an exhibition and loved them, so I used one of them as wallpaper in my garden room.
Last year, the BBC's gardening program asked for videos from the public, and the video of my garden that I submitted was posted on the BBC's Facebook and Twitter pages!
The oxalis we are growing under the plum tree is a plant that brightens up our dreary garden with its white flowers in winter. The flowers only open during the day on sunny days and close the rest of the time, so they last a very long time. It's bulbous and spreads by underground stems, so the downside is that it can become invasive if you're not careful.
The pink oxalis ‘Momo-no-kagayaki’ blooming in the peony bed is a bulbous plant that blooms only in winter and dies in summer, and is a little more careful because it spreads easily.
In making our potager, we have found the book Ornamental Kitchen Garden by Geoff Hamilton and the DVD of the same name to be very helpful. I was introduced to it by a gardening friend in England. I was so interested in this book that I translated it into Japanese and bound one copy myself. The title in the first scene of the DVD is 'The ORNAMENTAL KITCHEN GARDEN With GEOFF HAMILTON', and the music in the background is Salut D' Amolet by Edward Elgar.
Just one book printed in Japanese translation, divided into upper and lower volumes. ただ1冊上下巻にして印刷された邦訳本
So I edited the video of our potager from last year and used that song as background music. Please take a look at our ornamental kitchen garden in 2020, when it was all about the new Corona virus pandemic and no one came to visit our garden.
