Strange flowers: Flower problem in Yokohama, October 2024

 

Yeah. Fall has begun finally. Though it’s still too hot for the end of October. Weather forecasters say almost as a mantra, this is the weather for the end of September. Temperature et al are in a month delay. In Yokohama, this weekend has been more or less cloudy. The forecasters explained it was due to the autumnal rain front which was normally observed at the end of September. Oh, yes, we all know it. It’s hot these days. The temperatures are still dancing merrily above 20°C (68°F) during daytime. Still, early morning or late evening, it is chilly. Many people struggle to adjust to a rollercoaster ride of weather. Last Wednesday, some weather forecasters issued a warning for violent fluctuation of atmospheric pressure (and temperature) that may cause some people headaches, nausea, etc.

Such travail is not only for humans, perhaps. I told you a story about skinny vampire leeches in Tanzawa last week. Poor creatures. For more lovable organisms, narrative is more or less the same. Flowers are strange this month. Lots of news reported awkward flowering patterns all over Japan. Famous gardens for cosmos or roses do not have enough opening even at the end of October, the high season of autumnal tourism. Maybe, summer-like October lets the vegetables miss the chances of blossoming. They are confused, I guess.

Even sweet autumn clematis open its flowers
 in the end of October, a month late.

In my neighborhood, there are home gardens having full opening of morning glories. In Yokohama, morning glories are flowers for July and August. It is almost a summer tradition for the 1st graders to record and report how they open the flower as homework. I wonder how they managed such a difficult task this year. Morning glories did not open during their summer holidays. Poor kids …

Yeah. Certainly they are lovely. But it is the end of October.

Seniors of Niiharu Lovers murmured their concern for cherry trees in a park near Nagatsuda Station. One of them is flowering. “Isn’t it a kind that has flowers in fall?” “No, no. It’s Someiyoshino. The tree gives us every spring a chance for cherry blossoms party in spring. It’s flowering now.” “Wow.” “Something is happening definitely.” “No doubt.” When flowers are strange, it follows odd fruiting. Japanese snowbell has lots of pretty starshaped flowers in late spring here. In October, when it is a normal year, the flowers become tiny fruits dangling from the twigs. Come December they would be fully-ripen and become nice meals for small wild birds in sleepy winter forests in Yokohama. Sadly this year, the tits could have a harsh winter with fairly limited supply of food, including the fruits of snowbell. Not only that, some snowbells have flowers now. *Gee … what’s going on now …” Poor birds.

Still Chinese hwawei are now singing around in Niiharu.

I’m also worried about Harlequin Glorybower. They should flower during summer here in Yokohama. In standard October, they give us a view of charming blue fruits wrapped in lovely purplish red calyx. For several years by now I’m collecting their blue fruits for my winter project. I need lots of them. I collect them in forests and freeze the bounty for the use. Now in October, I should be busy collecting the fruits of Glorybower. This October, nope. They are flowering now. Yeah, their white and pink at the bottom flowers are lovely. But they should come in July or August … What would happen for my project in this changing climate? Can I report you my adventure with Glorybower fruits soon?

Flowering Harlequin Glorybower in late October …!?

Fruits are there, but in October their calyx is still closing.

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North

北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau

横浜市みどり環境局

Phone：045-353-1166
FAX：045-352-3086
mk-hokubukoen@city.yokohama.jp

Lilies in Niiharu 2024: Golden-rayed Lilies in Niiharu, II 新治市民の森

 

Lilies opened this year again. The scent of them was impressive as previous years in the chestnut orchard of Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 (; my post on July 21, 2023). The slope covered by the lilies is the property of the City of Yokohama. At the moment, the committee for Niiharu Forest, consisted of the city office, we the Lovers, neighborhood associations surrounding the forest, and elementary schools near the forest (; my post on April 22, 2016), is discussing how to proceed the management of the place. The original plan of the Office was to clear the ground and plant seedlings of broad-leaved trees as the original chestnut trees are old enough for dying out. Though the splender of the lilies these recent years is changing the minds of people ... We‘ll see how it turns out.

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau
横浜市みどり環境局

Phone：045-353-1166
FAX：045-352-3086
mk-hokubukoen@city.yokohama.jp

Breaking News: Golden-rayed Lilies will fully bloom next weekend in Niiharu 新治市民の森

 

Before talking about forests in Sagamihara Plateau, I have to tell you this. Golden-rayed lilies in the chestnut orchard of Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 (; my post on July 21, 2023) will bloom fully next weekend. Already this weekend, the impressive scent of the flower has started to waft. If you’re around Yokohama, please come. It will be impressive again this year. 😍

The slope of the chestnut orchard in
Niiharu Citizen Forest as of July 6, 2024.

The buds were plump.
Today, I rescued some of them strangled
by vine plants like Dioscorea tokoro.

Gooseneck loosestrife and
salvia japonica are also beautiful now.

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局

Phone: 045-311-2016 

FAX: 045-316-8420

Beautiful Lilies: Lilies are in full bloom now in Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森

 

Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 has several chestnut orchards. As the place was a productive farmland especially before World War II, those chestnut fields have/had owners. The largest orchard of chestnuts is now the property of the City of Yokohama. It is on the north-facing slope when we enter the forest at B-2 point. At the foot of the orchard, there is a large signboard and a map of the forest with C-1 designation. It’s a sort of a main gate for Niiharu Citizen Forest. The chestnuts are on the left slope there. I guess some of you have already been there several times. The previous owner of the orchard, an old lady, still lives (a sort of) in front of the place. Why do you ask they transferred the ownership to the municipality? Ah-hem, there is a typically Japanese it-is-cheaper-to-pay-tax-by-land-story, mate. This north-facing and steep slope is loved by Golden-rayed lilies. When they appear in summer, the old lady who previously owned the place has enjoyed beautiful white flowers in her orchard since her younger days. The condition when she passed on the ownership to the city was, “Please keep the lilies.”

There. The chestnut field, 2023.

The place had suffered serious damage by the typhoons of 2019. In any case, the chestnuts were already very old trees. So, it would be an inevitable thing for ancient trees to be knocked down by super typhoons … The lady lamented the sorry scenery of her former property, a lot. The City decided to semi-clear the place and afforest it with maple trees or the like. I mean, not all the chestnuts are removed, but many would be discarded to make space for another trees. The Lovers have engaged in the project for these 4 years. We removed fell-down trees from the slope, thinned overgrown Quercus myrsinifolia around the orchard to let sunshine in to help seedlings that would be planted later. We also do regular raking to remove mowed grasses, leaves, burs from the ground. The work continues now.

In spring 2022, the orchard looked like this.
We cleared a lot of this place to reach this level.

Before the typhoon, the Lovers of Niiharu did … slightly cutting corners for the maintenance of the orchard. Yeah, we mowed mechanically twice a year the place, otherwise the orchard would have been covered completely by grasses and western bracken ferns. That was an obstacle to collecting chestnuts. We wanted to harvest the nuts. So, we ran our mowing machine mainly around the chestnut tree. Another reason of our “light-touch” for the place was Golden-rayed lilies. When the grass grows tall in summer, it is very difficult to mow mechanically without damaging the lilies sprouting out of the mass of grass. Lovers’ works unconsciously avoid in-between space of the chestnut trees where lilies would call for home. I don’t know how long such an approach continued after the land became the property of the City. When I joined the Lovers Association, the seniors already talked like “Hey, the number of lilies in the orchard is getting smaller, don’t you think?” The lady living in front of the orchard also complained. “Are you doing the proper care?” The Lovers murmured “Of course, we’re doing our best. But twice yearly mechanical mowing for such a large place is the max we can do with a limited number of hands!”

Er … before, it was like this.

Then the super-typhoons came and the landlord City decided to do a large intervention. Lovers mowing has changed. Before, we left the cut grasses and ferns there after mowing. It did help the new growth of grasses suppressed. It also prevented more lilies from coming to flower. Now I recall the words of Mr. Katsuyama for Hakone Sengokubara National Treasure Site 国天然記念物箱根仙石原 this spring (my post on May 12): when we want to have lots of herbaceous plants to flower, we must sweep the place and remove the mowed grasses. It worked OK for a limited man-power Lovers could provide for the maintenance of the place. New approach the City employing for the place is “Please keep the place neat, and ready for professional landscapers to come.” Er, OK. So, Lovers began raking the cut grasses et al in the orchard, and moving it as much as possible for the garbage collection of the city. It was, I tell you, heavy work.

Chestnut orchard, Niiharu, 2022

For one thing, the orchard spreads over a very steep slope. Removing cut grasses is practically dropping large masses of cut grasses down the hill. If it fell smoothly, Harasho. Otherwise, we keep our body steady over the almost cliff-like slope with our muscle power and sweep the grass-mass pushing down to the foot of the hill. The debris of left-over mowed grasses for the previous years had not decayed as we expected. It was piled high and heavy … In the process, we hand-mowed the area around the lilies, and removed the cut grasses carefully. Once the field is raked, the new growth of herbaceous plants, being it a grass or lilies, becomes more vigorous so the mowing and raking is continued. At least the remains of previous years are smaller now … Then, our endeavor started to pay off since last year or so.

Naomi mowed around here!

Although there remain damaged chestnut trees here and there, the number of flowers we can enjoy are getting larger and larger in the place. Last year visitors started to notice the old chestnut orchard is becoming a large flower field for Golden-rayed lilies and the others. The City has begun asking the Lovers to take care of the lilies more. This year since last week the place has impressive number of large Gloden-rayed lilies in full bloom. I guess this weekend is the last for the peak of 2023. Once you’re approaching C-1 point, the atmosphere of the area is completely dominated by the fragrance of noble lilies. It’s spectacular, and we Lovers are proud of our work. If you have any chance to visit Niiharu Citizen Forest this weekend, please don’t miss the once in a year natural pageant of the Forest!

Last week for Golden-rayed lilies in the chestnut orchard.
Could you see there are more buds?
They’ll bloom this week!

A week before the above photo,
the place was for Orange Daylily.

Patrinia scabiosifolia is also getting strong these days near Niiharu.
They say it’s rare to find them in Yokohama now.
By the way, they are the flowers of autumn
in Japanese Haiku poetry.
Season is changing …

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016 

FAX: 045-316-8420

Endurance Game: Flowers of early summer in Yokohama’s forests 2023

 

In Japan, we have at least two rainy seasons. One is in autumn, and another is in early summer. Early summer rainy season is the headliner for Japanese calendar. It has the name Tsuyu, and the other rainy days have names like Susuki-Tsuyu for autumn rains. Tsuyu is written in Chinese Character 梅雨 = rains when plums are ripened. Susuki-Tsuyu ススキ梅雨 means raining like Tsuyu season when Chinese silver grass turns the color of their seed head beautiful white. You’ve got the idea, right? For traditional Japanese society, knowing the weather pattern and coincident transition in vegetation was important. When plums are ripened and rainy season begins, it’s time to plant rice seedlings in paddies. When silver grass turns the color of their head and rainy days continue, a bit waiting for the end of rain brings joyous time for harvesting rice. Although the importance of such things is now not that much as in 200 years ago, knowing the beginning and the end of rainy season is still significant for us. So, like a Groundhog Day festival, it’s an annual ritual in Japan to hear the declaration of start/end of Tsuyu from the Japan Meteorological Agency. They are using tax-payer funded supercomputers to analyze the patterns of chaotic planetary weather and are expected to issue such statements without much confusion. Er, that is a hope, at least. Last year, they did a blunder.

Male Orthetrum Melania. When they come it’s summer!

For Kanto Region where Yokohama belongs to Tsuyu 2022 started on June 6th. Moving average out of the last 30 years for starting date was June 7th. That was good, right? The problem was the declaration for the end. The Agency first issued the statement for Kanto Region the Tsuyu of 2022 was over on June 26, for the shortest Tsuyu season in record for Megalopolis Tokyo. Yeah, around that time we had days of sweltering heat with too strong sunshine. The scientists for the Agency might have thought the same thing as we were: summer rainy days were over for 2022. That was a gigantic mistake. After the declaration, the weather pattern returned to Tsuyu, or even worse to storms with evacuation orders. In September 1, 2022, the Agency issued the definitive date for the end of Tsuyu which in Kanto Region was July 23rd, more or less around the average date of July 19th.

In really hot day,
Japanese grass lizard is also feeling dizzy … I guess.
 It stayed as was at my feet.
Hey, cars can come! Be careful!

Huh. That’s the world of Climate Change. In the first place, having heatwave with direct sunshine in early July was not common in Yokohama before! We’re in such era … And so, Tsuyu season for 2023. The plums this year have ripened at least a week earlier than the previous years (; my post on June 2nd, 2023). Something’s happening …? At least the declaration from the Meteorological Agency for the “opening (yeah!)” was June 8th this year for Kanto Region. But again, we in Yokohama have mid-summer like heatwave early July … we’re murmuring “Strange.” Meanwhile at least flowers for early summer in forests are behaving dependably. They are flowering as before about time … at least for now in Yokohama. How long could they endure, I wonder …

Gooseneck loosestrife

East Asian sage

Tricyrtis macropoda

Golden-rayed lily

Asian lizard's tail

East Asian pollia

Orange Daylily

Common reed

Cattail

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016 

FAX: 045-316-8420

Miniature wonder: admiring Asteraceae pollens under microscope

 

Er … a sort of Naomi’s boom for Spring 2023. I’m in for collecting pollens these days. It’s not for culinary purposes or something, but to admire them under microscope. Actually, last fall when I walked Niiharu Citizen Forest with the researchers from Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History, they taught me this fun. The way to collect pollens is simple.

<What you need>

1. Black construction paper, cut into, … er … 3cm*5cm cards, or in a similar size.

The card is small enough to carry to a field, but large enough to work with.

2. Transparent Scotch tape, preferably 2cm or so wide.

Here.
The white sticker on the construction paper is
to write down the name of flower.

<What to do>

1. Put 2-3 cm long scotch tape on a flower, gently push the sticky side on the stamen to collect pollens.
2. Paste the scotch tape with pollens on a card of construction paper. 

3. Enjoy them under microscope!

Flatweed flower with scotch tape.

I pasted the tape with pollens on a construction paper card …

and admire them under a microscope on my desk.

I’m still sorting out my collection ... This week, I’ll show you some of my cards for the flowers of Asteraceae family.

Oriental false hawksbeard

Their pollens look like yellow confetti. 😊

Common sowthistle

Theirs are also like candies, but the spikiness is, it seems to me, sharper than Oriental false hawksbeard.

Jersey Cudweed

Hmmmm. This candy-like pollen looks like a petit potato.

Flatweed

So far, this looks the most appetizing as a candy, don’t you think?

Eastern daisy fleabane

Wow. These fecund-looking pollens are true to their notoriety as super-invasive species!

It’s interesting the pollens from the same family look similar each other. I mean, pollens for Asteraceae family all have spikes … like COVID viruses … Are the spikes do something for their procreation? For contrast, here is from another family, Garryaceae to be exact.

They are pollens for Japanese laurel. I used thick double-sided tape for this photo. Pro for this approach was I don’t have to carry a tape cutter, as long as I prepare the card beforehand with the tape. But the level of transparency is lower with double-sided tape. In addition, the tape was too thick to stabilize microscope over it. So I abandoned this approach.

I’m sorry for these out-of-focus photos from microscope. It’s difficult to stabilize my Android over the microscope … Also, I think I need to find better Scotch tape with more transparency. My trial continues …

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/