# The Back 40



## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 28, 2010)

Square meters, that is, not acres.

Spring has come to southern Japan. Here's a peek at what's going on in the garden.

First, a couple views of growing areas. The back porch - mish-mash of stuff - terrestrial orchids, seedlings of all kinds woody plants, bog gardens and so on. The Araucaria goes inside for the winter and is my Christmas tree.







The front porch. Here is home to the _fuukiran_ collection and also where I summer the Paphs.






Now, out into the garden!

_Osmunda japonica_ - fertile fronds and _Erythronium californicum_ 'White Beauty'









A couple garden views - cut leaf maple/_Crytomium fortunei_/hybrid azaleas and rosemary/_Selaginella involvens_/azalea









_Platycerium bifurcatum_ - new fronds and _Selaginella tamariscina/Farfugium japonicum_









And some flowers - Azalea/_Tillandsia usneoides_ and a hybrid Clematis









Finally, one orchid, a hybrid _Dendrobium_ with obvious influence from _D. speciosum_, but just bought it as "_kingianum_" - maybe a hybrid of the two? Large flowers. This plant is rock solid in this climate having endured -3 C or lower.


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## Hera (Apr 28, 2010)

Beautiful, thanks for the views!


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## SlipperFan (Apr 28, 2010)

So neat and organized. Wonderful details. You have an excellent eye, Tom.


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## Rick (Apr 28, 2010)

That's so cool Tom:drool:

Remind us what you do in your "spare time" when you are not tending your gardens.oke:oke:


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## SlipperKing (Apr 28, 2010)

Great stuff Tom!


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## JeanLux (Apr 29, 2010)

very nice show Tom, I esp. like the azaleas and the clematis!!! All those neos :drool:!! Is that bonsai on the left a maple? Jean


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## paphjoint (Apr 29, 2010)

Nice ! thanks for showing


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## Dido (Apr 29, 2010)

Really nice few and so exactly. 
Not in my garden. 

Keep on posting from your yard. 

Do you have paeonies?


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## Lanmark (Apr 29, 2010)

Fantastic! You are fortunate to have such a nice outdoor space you can use, and you use it very well.  Now show us closeups of every single Neo in your collection... :drool:


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## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 29, 2010)

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. I've been working with this yard for over 5 years now and it has grown a lot - both in actual biomass and in diversity. It takes a lot of work, especially in the spring.



Rick said:


> That's so cool Tom:drool:
> 
> Remind us what you do in your "spare time" when you are not tending your gardens.oke:oke:



Rick, I'm a flower bum and a surveyor of woodlands; a waterfall tester and thumb twiddler. Somebody's got to tend to these things, so it might as well be me. My perfect day is to not have any schedule, not really go anywhere, meditate, listen to the radio, weed the garden, pot up some plants, meditate again, eat some more. When the sun goes down I get ready for bed. In the end I may be penniless, but I'll have a smile on my face.



JeanLux said:


> very nice show Tom, I esp. like the azaleas and the clematis!!! All those neos :drool:!! Is that bonsai on the left a maple? Jean



Yes Jean, that is a pot of maple saplings. They are in a "forest grouping". Actually I just bought them as a sort of faux bonsai, but after years of growth they are beginning to look like something. Very pretty in the fall when they change color. That stick of neos is what I call my "bank"...you figure it out!



Dido said:


> Do you have paeonies?



Dido, I LOVE tree peonies, but don't have enough sun or room to grow any. I have one large herbaceous peony plus another woodland native species. That's all unfortunately.



Lanmark said:


> Fantastic! You are fortunate to have such a nice outdoor space you can use, and you use it very well.  Now show us closeups of every single Neo in your collection... :drool:



Mark, yes, I am indeed very lucky. I purposely found a house on the outskirts of the city near the mountains so that I could have a garden and also an in house school. I have both. It is far from perfect, but I really can't complain! I'll start another thread on the neos soon.

I'll post more shots as things evolve. I really ought to just get off my duff and start a blog. I've got ten zillion photos of plants, shrines, and wild places to show.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 29, 2010)

Beautiful photos! I love all the different textures of foliage; the rich color of that clematis is stunning too. I see the makings of a photography book...


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## NYEric (Apr 29, 2010)

Thanx for posting and the info about the kingianum hybrid. Mine are just sitting and sometimes putting out new growths but not flowering. Next winter into the garden they go!


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## biothanasis (Apr 29, 2010)

Excellent work!!! Well done Tom!!!


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