Well here’s a few photos for you all. I hope you folks with dial up won’t hate me forever!

Yesterday I went to a local shrine to see a mid-winter spectical: the flowering of peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa) known as Kan Botan ( meaning winter peony) here in Japan. These are typically not winter flowering plants, but back in the Edo Period of Japan a group was bred to bloom twice a year. The plants are given a little extra heat in the dead of winter and this induces them to bloom. Here’s some pictures from yesterday.

This is the garden at Hakozaki Shrine in Fukuoka City on the island of Kyushu. You can see the typical layout with lots of dwarf black pines, sandy areas, hillocks, and so on. If you look closely you can see the little peony “houses”:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/HakozakiGardenSM.jpg

Yes, that’s right, a little house made of bamboo is placed over the plant to protect it from the winter elements such as wind, snow, rain, and so on. Just two days earlier it snowed about 4” on these gardens. Also notice the little mat that is placed on the ground directly below the plant to keep the ground warm:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/WinterPeonySM.jpg
Here’s a wider shot of the garden:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/KanBotanGarden.jpg

Of course the Japanese love to create beautiful little scenes to enjoy as you walk along. Here’s a barrel with peony flowers:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/KanBotanBarrelSM.jpg

Yet another Kan Botan peeking out of its house:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/KanBotan3.jpg

There also were lots of other little attractions in the garden such as this Japanese primrose (Primula japonica) growing in a bamboo pot:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/BambooPrimrose.jpg

And a rainbarrel full of pansies:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/PansyPondSM.jpg

Finally, here’s a shot of a popular winter flower Adonis amurensis or Fukujusou (meaning happy fortune and long life plant) that blooms in time for the Japanese new year (February), and is therefore a symbol of it. These were blooming through the snow from a couple days ago:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/tvelardi/FukujukaiSnowSM.jpg

Well, that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this little tour. Many such festivals are held throughout the year celebrating the various seasons and the plants associated with them. This is one of the great pleasures of living in this country!

Tom

Thanks for posting such beautiful photos!

very nice! thanks for posting them.

They have adonis amurensis at the arboretum here - far back with no visible tag. Thanks for IDing it! I've been wondering what it was.

I often wonder that the Japanese appreciate nature a bit more than the majority of folks in the western world.
I wonder why this is. It would be an interersting discussion.

Arts such as ikebana and bonsai require such great patience. Do they pay people to build those little peony
shelters? oh, if only I could make a living doing this sort of thing!

Very nice :clap:

Tom,

Thanks; it was worth the wait!

Very Nice pictures, so all the snow you've had this winter is melted away?

I *love* peonies! One of my favorite things about going to Chicago in the spring and summer is seeing all of the peonies in bloom. It is nice to see people take such care in blooming these beautiful plants. Thanks for the great pics!

What a great little tour! Thanks for taking the time to photograph and share.

:biglove:
Beautiful garden. Thanks for sharing!

Hey Folks! Yeah, it is a nice little garden.

To answer specific questions. First Paphgirl:

I often wonder that the Japanese appreciate nature a bit more than the majority of folks in the western world.
I wonder why this is. It would be an interersting discussion.

Well you need to come to Japan to answer that one for yourself. Truth is they don't. Nature is viewed quite differently here, and rarely left to its own devices. What you never see in my photos is the urban landscape of modern Japan. I carefully avoid showing it, something that is impossible to do sometimes. This is an old culture that recently became modernized. Its roots are deeply embedded in a tribal history based on simple agriculture that didn't begin modernizing until the Meji Period (1860ish). They were tied to the land, hence their ceremonies and festivals grew out of that maxtrix. Today it still lurks under the overlay of 14 hour work days, steel, concrete, pachinko, and endless noise, but obviously is muted.

Do they pay people to build those little peony shelters? oh, if only I could make a living doing this sort of thing!

Yeah, wouldn't that be great! Not that I know of. The arts you mention though come out of the traditional past and give insight into the culture's view on nature. Nature is something to be used, admired, and emullated but with a strong hand. It is more an aesthetic than anything else.

Next, Paphjoint:

Very Nice pictures, so all the snow you've had this winter is melted away?

We never get much snow, and it never last more than a day or two, especially down in the city. Fukuoka is on the northwest coast of Kyushu, which is the snowy side of Japan. Further north on Honshu one enters the "snow country" of Japan, one of the snowiest places on earth (they have had up to 4.5 meters of the stuff in places this year!). If Kyushu weren't quite so far south, we would be covered in snow all the time too. It just gets too "warm" here for that (average temps range between 3-8C in the winter), and being at 32.5 N latitude, the sun is very strong.

I'm glad you enjoyed the pics.

Tom

Great pictures Tom, must get there someday....

Great peonies. People in Taiwan love peonies. Peoney means wealth and social position in our tradition. But we can not grow them. It is too hot here. If we want to see peonies, we need to drive to mountain, only few nursuries in the mountain grow them.

福岡 seems to be a nice city to teavel, hope someday I can go there!

love the pansies and everythign else too!!!