# May Garden in Japan



## KyushuCalanthe (May 20, 2008)

Here are a few shots of my yard at the moment. Usually in late May the yard looks the best it ever will at any given time. Soon the heavy daily monsoon rains will come, then the baking heat and munching insects of late summer and early fall, and finally the frosts of December. As you can see, I grow a wide variety of plants.







One of my biggest addictions are ferns. I love just about any fern, but epiphytic ones and tree ferns are the most fascinating to me. In this shot you can see the temperate tree fern _Dicksonia antarctica_, an Australian native, along with the epiphytic _Platycerium superbum_ (another Australian) and the native Japanese birdnest fern, _Asplenium antiquum_.






Near the entrance to the house is a large specimen of _Platycerium bifurcatum_ and in a _Podocarpus_ tree hangs my fuukiran collection (selected forms of _Neofinetia falcata_). Yes, that is Spanish moss (_Tillandsia usenoides_) as well.






In addition to this are a small side yard with a Japanese Apricot tree (_Prunus mume_) filled with all kinds of epiphytic orchids and a shade garden underneath. Along another strip in the back of the house there is a bulb garden and a concrete slab area is where I grow high light plants. 

Tom


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## mccallen (May 20, 2008)

Lovely garden! How long have you been working on it?


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## NYEric (May 20, 2008)

Very nice. Are your neighbors also gardeners?


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## Corbin (May 20, 2008)

Looks very pleasant and relaxing.


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## fundulopanchax (May 20, 2008)

Hi, Tom,

That Spanish moss looks far from home! I assume that it is not native to Japan?

Ron


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## SlipperFan (May 20, 2008)

What a great spot, and what a lot of work!


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 21, 2008)

Wow, lots of questions! Here I go with comments...

@mccallen - Since this is a rental house, the basic garden was already here - the shrubs and trees. I have cleaned them up considerably, moved some around and so on. All the speciality plants, really ALL the plants except some of the shrubs and all the trees, where put here by me. I've been working this garden for almost 4 years now.

@Eric - nope! I'm the only serious gardener in my area! Everybody stops to look at it and comment on the unusual plants - mostly the orchids and staghorn ferns.

@Ed - come on over sometime and I'll give the nickel tour and even make you a lovely cup of green tea!

@Ron - as a person who spent a lot of time in the south, I came to love, to even *expect*, to see spanish moss in the trees. When I saw a handful of it for sale at a nursery I had to try some. It has more than doubled since I got it two years ago. Here's the funny part, hold onto your hat, the initial clump (big enough to put in a quart sized bag) cost me the equivalent of $16! HA! It definitely is not a native of Japan, in fact there are no native bromeliads here.

@Dot - yes, it was! When I get a piece of land under my control though, I just have to garden.

And some more plant pics, what my friend Dave calls "plant porn".

A peony I bought as a small rhizome two years back for just $1.50! The flowers are up to 7" across on this baby:






The native Dendrobium moniliforme, the most northern growing epiphytic orchid in the world:






Bletilla striata 'soryu', a selected "blue" flowered variety supposedly collected years ago in Wakayama Prefecture on Honshu. Looking at the flower, methinks it is in fact of hybrid origin:






Tom


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## Bolero (May 21, 2008)

Superb garden, your efforts are really admirable and I can tell you've worked hard on it.


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## biothanasis (May 21, 2008)

I really love your garden!!!!!!!! It is fantastic and relaxing... I would always wander in there looking at plants, flowers, bud and other garden related things!!! Where do you live in Japan exactly? My girlfriend is half - Japanese and comes from a perfecture (or village) near Kobe city. I will ask her again to find out... Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Heather (May 21, 2008)

WOW~ I love it all, but that Bletilla is fabulous!


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## Scooby5757 (May 21, 2008)

Tom, great job!


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## streetmorrisart (May 21, 2008)

This is almost unreal…spectacular, magical. I’m with Heather on the Bletilla, but it was especially entertaining for me to see your very happy moniliforme—in case I might ever forget why it likes a bit of a chill!


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 22, 2008)

biothanasis said:


> I really love your garden!!!!!!!! It is fantastic and relaxing... I would always wander in there looking at plants, flowers, bud and other garden related things!!! Where do you live in Japan exactly? My girlfriend is half - Japanese and comes from a perfecture (or village) near Kobe city. I will ask her again to find out... Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!



Glad you enjoyed the shots. I live on the southernmost main island, Kyushu, on the northwest coast near Fukuoka City.


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## Yoyo_Jo (May 22, 2008)

Your garden is amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Joanne


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## cwt (May 22, 2008)

Its unreal Tom. It looks like a very peaceful garden where one can come to his senses again.
Charles


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## JeanLux (May 22, 2008)

A lovely place with a lot of fine plants; of course the coloration of your Bletilla is great!! Jean


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## Marco (May 26, 2008)

Tom that's an awesome garden man! look at all those neos hanging from that tree they look great. hope you got your cat problem under control.


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## Heather (May 26, 2008)

Tom, you have plenty of extra rooms for guests, right?


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 26, 2008)

Marco said:


> Tom that's an awesome garden man! look at all those neos hanging from that tree they look great. hope you got your cat problem under control.



Yup, cat sukiyaki every night for a few weeks did the trick! They are still around and wake me up at night screaming (the cats, then me), but this year they haven't been too much of a problem for the plants so far...



Heather said:


> Tom, you have plenty of extra rooms for guests, right?



Yup, big house. Just had Jason Fischer over for a couple days. He bought me a nice big neo 'shutennou' as a gift. Thanks Jason!



cwt said:


> Its unreal Tom. It looks like a very peaceful garden where one can come to his senses again.
> Charles



It would be if I didn't have to weed it every ten minutes! There is always work to do out there, so sometimes it feels like just another job (especially in spring when I have to branch by branch hand prune all the trees!). Still, no complaints really - it is my love and joy at the end of the day.


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## Heather (May 27, 2008)

KyushuCalanthe said:


> Yup, big house. Just had Jason Fischer over for a couple days. He bought me a nice big neo 'shutennou' as a gift. Thanks Jason!



Cool, I heard a rumor Jason was over there and bringing back some sweet a$$ stuff for us all to be tempted by...been saving my pennies. I'm in the market for a variegated Sedirea, don'tcha know!


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## Hakone (May 27, 2008)

Hello Tom,

Very beautiful garden, ferns combine with orchids
here photo of my garden



Myoga



Sakura





















Pseudosasa japonica






Miscanthus


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## Candace (May 27, 2008)

I don't know how I missed this thread. The gardens look very peaceful. It would break my heart as a renter to have to leave all my handiwork:<


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 27, 2008)

Very pretty garden Hakone. I see you are a boo lover! Can I ask where you live?

Candace, I reason it this way: my whole existence in this country is like one big rental unless I end up staying, buying land, and setting in deep roots. Never done that before anywhere, so my game always has been of the traveling farmer.


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## SlipperFan (May 27, 2008)

Nice photos. Thanks!


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## Hakone (May 28, 2008)

Hello Tom,
I live in Germany


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## MoreWater (May 29, 2008)

myoga! I now have a craving for myoga!!!!

It's been on my "buy" list forever. Maybe I should this year!


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