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 tête-à-tête mini daffodil, which blooms with vivid yellow flowers in early spring, has flowered again this year. Though a small flower, reaching only 10 to 15 centimetres in height, it brightens the garden instantly. It is the first flower to herald the arrival of spring.
The narcissus flowers in our garden are beautiful right now. Narcissus tazetta var. chinensis is the most common, but there are also 'Paperwhite', pure white, small-flowered daffodils, and double-flowered 'White Lion'. All of them have a strong narcissus fragrance that wafts through the garden. I cut a few and displayed them.
Tete-a-tete is a lovely miniature daffodil that blooms in early spring. It is mainly grown in pots in our garden, but also blooms a bit in the shade garden. Spring is finally approaching. The exciting season is here!
There are several varieties of narcissus in the garden, with the early varieties starting to flower in December. The yellow narcissus is blooming beautifully at the moment. White daffodils with a pale yellow central tube (corona) are also in full bloom. Other varieties of daffodils will soon start to flower and can be enjoyed until around March.
The small white narcissus that start to bloom every year at the beginning of winter at the lower entrance to the garden are now in full bloom. The flowers are pure white except for the stamens and their small size makes them look very pretty. Other varieties of narcissus will be blooming one after another from now on.
Narcissus have been in bloom since December, but there are still three varieties of narcissus in bloom.
One is a narcissus with yellow petals. It blooms in the Bluebell Garden. If you look closely, you can see that the petals have sharp white tips like spikes.
Next is a variety with pointed white petals . This is under the arch of white roses.
次は白い花びらが尖った品種です. 白バラのアーチの下です.
The last is the white Japanese daffodil, a variety that is wild west of the Kanto region. It flowers on the cliff below the Bluebell Garden. They say it's an introduced species that came to the country in olden times.
January had wet weather from the 13th to the 20th. This is an unusual amount of rain even for this time of year. We were not able to do any work in the winter garden. I walked around the garden at a fast pace in the rain to have a look around.