Flowers... of Soap wort, Oregano, Jerusalem artichoke, and Lotus...

Japan is in the midst of the O-bon season, as in All Souls Day...

The university is closed for a full week... 

Put in the two weekends, and yours truly is only too happy to be having a 9-day break...

Which means, an excellent opportunity to catch up with the chores in the potager...

Yes, it is a joy to be able to work in the garden, but still, the heat... ooh, it's killing...

We have been trying to grow this soap wort for a while now...

Am happy to see that they are growing well...

Belongs to the carnation family and has sweet smelling flowers...

Apparently can be used as a mild soap but we haven't tried doing so...

The wild marjoram a.k.a. oregano looks pretty but my missus prefers the sweet marjoram for cooking...

And so is the Jerusalem artichoke... it looks pretty...

We tried eating their tubers but did not quite like their taste...

The mini-lotus flower is doing beautifully in the pond... 

The Evening Primrose, among other things...

The evening primrose flower is actually quite charming....

The petal texture reminds me a little bit of the washi aka Japanese paper...

As previously mentioned, I shall be looking for ways to make use of this 'miraculous' medicine plant...

A rather large portion of our property is actually slopes...

The gradient is perhaps 15 to 20 degrees?

Some years ago, had made these steps out of recycled wood which we kept aside when we renovated our house...

But we need more such steps to move around the slopes...

And it took me many many more moons to put together a 'walkable staircase'...

So, spent a good portion of my last weekend cracking my head on how to do just that...

After some prolonged contemplation, decided to carve these steps at a spot below our sakura tree...  

Was very pleased to be praised by my missus who came by to inspect...

In between the breaks from carving the slopes, grabbed my camera to shoot some pictures in the garden...

This is the flower of a bonafide grass... I have yet to identify its name...

More so than the evening primrose, this 'weed' is really all over our property...

Lucky thing is, they are not so difficult to pull out...

and I must say that I am quite attracted by that shade of blue... pretty exquisite, don't you think?.

The humble zinnia... as with the evening primrose and the grass with the blue flowers, zinnias have really adapted so well to our potager...
The interesting thing is, although they come in shades of pink, their shapes and petals vary considerably...
The above specimen is the single layer petal...

The Thai basil is one of several vegetables that remind me of my mother...

She used to tend a vegetable garden in the village and  at times, I assisted her...

The Thai basil is growing so well this season...

Its fragrance goes very well with our breakfast pizza toasts and also our evening meals...

The parting shot is a bloom (accompanied by a mini spider) from our Jerusalem artichoke patch... 

It is amazing that we do not really care for this plant and yet, they grow so well...

Its edible tubers are not that palatable for us...

But their flowers make up for their bland taste... 

I think the Jerusalem artichoke flower is better suited to our potager compared to the over-sized sunflower...

The Jerusalem artichoke flowers make great cut-flowers as they do not dry out that fast...

My missus fancies these flowers very much, so I suppose they will remain a permanent feature for many moons ('moon' again?) to come... ;)

Sakuras, roots, and greens...

Yes, the sakuras in our property are blooming...
This one is what is called Oshima sakura...
their petals are known to be white...

My favorite is the willowy 'shidare' sakura...
The flowers are pretty, but it is the buds that really fascinate me...
See that bud on the left? With the 'tongue'?
It was moving right when I was photographing it...

The somei-yoshino sakura is used as the 'standard' to record the start of the blooms...
It is said that more than 80% of all sakura trees in Japan belong to this specie...
This specie was developed at the end of the Edo period (about early to mid 1800s)...
Flowers of the somei yoshino are reputed to be very pretty compared to other species...
Readers can see the whole somei yoshino tree in our property here...

My missus bought this cutie from the store...
Looked it up and found out its name... Saxifraga rosacea or Irish Saxifrage?
Don't know much about this plant as yet...

Carrots, we have a-plenty-plenty this season...
They are absolutely crunchy and sweet...
Been chewing on them for many, many moons already...

Our radishes did not do too badly this time...
I normally ask my suweeto-haato to cook them with tofu for me...
One of my favorite dishes, I must say...

The way to prepare this dish is actually very simple...
Slice radish into thin stripes
Prepare a little garlic
Cut tofu into bit size

Apply sesame oil on pot
Put on low heat and fry garlic
When garlic flavor comes around, put in radish...
Increase fire to medium
Water will ooze out from the radish as it cooks...
Add a little salt to taste
Put in tofu
When radish turns translucent, it is ready...

Two years ago, got a few pieces of Jerusalem artichoke tubers from a neighbor...
We had wanted to grow them for their flowers...
Think they belong to the sunflower family...
They are yellow and equally pretty, yet smaller and easier to handle...
Their tubers are edible and they taste not too bad...
We harvested a pail-full of them this season...

And the parting shot for this post is...
One of favorite greens...
The locals call them 'mamba'...
Well, let us just say that it is a Japanese mustard green...
They have a slight, faint, bitter taste to it...
And I am quite hooked on it...