this one

This is the 2nd time seeing this pigeon on our lanai.

The 1st time was after it had rained and when I went out to check on my plants, I surprised it.

I had thought it had slept on the lanai to wait out the rain...

But, then I saw it this 2nd time...

not sure why it was out there on some of my planters...

hopefully eating bugs and not doing anything else...

on the lanai

New leaves coming in on the Blood Orange (as well as the freesia bulbs that are in this pot)...

Cyclamen's leaves are coming in too

As well as freesia...

Relieved to see that freesia and cyclamen have started to have leaves, it has been quite warm so I was a little worried...

The temperature is supposed to drop 10 degrees later today...eep!

on the lanai

thankful the cyclamen is blooming this year.

was scared it wouldn’t recover after the building renovation the other year

we'll have freesia in a couple of weeks too
 

bogor pineapple

About 2 years ago, we tried snack pine.

The other day, I bought another one called Bogor Pineapple, which was grown in Okinawa.

This time I followed the directions on the package.

Cut off the bottom and pick off the "nubs".

The fruit was overripe in places.

Still, there was quite a bit to eat.

After picking off the nubs, the center "shaft" that is left can be sliced and eaten.

I'm glad we tried this, it was also super sweet.

By the way, here's the snack pine that I planted 2 years ago...pretty big.

on the other hand, I think "someone"'s bonsai is dead...

on the lanai

Back in October, I got the krazy idea to try planting radish.

After most of my plants died after the blazing summer, I planted the radish seeds in four pots.

I figured if they didn't grow, I'd at least have a lot of radish greens for our soups.

Well, I think they did pretty well.

I should've thinned out the sprouts like the directions had said...

Since I didn't thin them out, I ended up with all sorts of sizes and shapes.

I turned them into pickles which we tried with breakfast the other morning.

I washed the greens and froze them for our soups in the coming weeks.

I still have more seeds and will definitely try growing these again in the Spring.

on the lanai

So far, these are the only plants left on my lanai.

The tropical ones...because we get the afternoon sun and it was blazing this summer...

At least the ti plant has babies...

And the pineapple looks like it is getting big.

I will need to dispose of the other plants, not sure if the freesia survived, will find out after winter.

Hopefully the cyclamen is okay too...for now though these are the only ones that are still alive...sigh.

on the lanai

I planted the seeds we received from our last visit to Kurokawa Dahlia Park.

Hopefully these dahlia will actually get big enough to flower and not dry up like last year.

bummer

Dahlia not doing too well.

With the funky weather, hot cold muggy...the plants seem to have dried up...

Hope both will revive...but it doesn't look good.

on the lanai

So glad the weather dude's forecast turned out to be wrong.

Looks like we'll have some sun until the end of the week and part of the weekend...whoo!

Just wanted to show you the progress of the dahlia on the lanai.

3 plants total...hope they will flower.

on the lanai

It's been about 6 years since I've planted the freesia on our lanai.

I must say this year we had a LOT of blooms.

And I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to show you some dahlias in June.

About the middle of March, I planted the seeds that we got from our visit last October.

The leaves that are coming up look pretty much like the kind when I searched online for "dahlia plants"...

How's your week going?

this and that

This weekend was so warm.

I think the weather dude said we were having May temps?!

I went to check out the ume (apricot) blossoms at Nakayamadera on Saturday.

It was beautiful.

The cyclamen on our lanai has started to bloom.

Which indicates that Spring is indeed on its way.

Unfortunately, we're supposed to hit a cold snap tomorrow.

How's the weather in your area?

(not really) on the lanai

It's raining today, and the temps have dropped quite a bit. Just wanted to show you what is happening on the lanai (or actually in our living room).

I brought these plants indoors to avoid frost getting them...Ranunculus. I hope this gives more than the one bloom that it did last year.

Cilantro is really perky.

along with the Swiss Chard

Kale, kinda stunted.

Ti leaf...I can't believe this one took. It was part of a flower arrangement and had some roots so I took a chance and planted it.

Anything exciting going on in your garden?

update

In a week, the goya got taller, I also notice a mushroom growing too.

I had to bring EVERYTHING indoors because they are not only painting, but re-doing the packing around the door jams and stuff like that.

Hopefully the building facelift for our floor will be finished soon so all my plants can go back out onto the lanai (our living/dining area is really cramped now)...

oh em gee

So...our building is getting a facelift.

They put up scaffolding around us, which sounded more like drilling?! (turns out that they actually were drilling so that they can secure their scaffolding to the building!)

My "babies" (well, most of them) came indoors...

It'll take 4 or 5 weeks, longer if the weather gets funky...

At least it gives me a "good excuse" to turn on the a/c during the daytime.

Pray they finish earlier...

On a happy note, I cut off the pointy tip of a goya (bittermelon) seed and soaked it in water. It germinated, so I planted it. A day or two later, I noticed that it started to sprout...crossing fingers we actually see some bittermelon this time.

How's your summer going?

this and that

So the weather has gone from Spring back to Winter (Tokyo had snow!).

Most days are gloomy, cloudy. Sometimes it rains.all.day.long.

Have been entertaining myself with all the spring veggies at the market.

I was excited to find portobello mushrooms, they're being grown in Chiba prefecture...whoo!

Not as big as some I've seen in the States, and they look more like brown mushrooms on steroids, but still excited to see them in the markets.

If I see them at the market again, I want to try making "burgers" with them.

From the lanai, I harvested some baby kale, swiss chard and beet tops.

Last night, dinner was the portobellos with a touch of butter and tonkatsu sauce. I sauteed the kale, swiss chard and beet tops with some sweet onions in olive oil. We also had avocado (it was a little firm) and Japanese cole slaw using purple cabbage.

Also brightening up the days are all the freesia from the lanai...love the fragrance!

And the double petal sakura have started blooming.

Today is one of those "supposed to rain all day" days, so I'm hanging out at home.

Hope you have a nice weekend!

so...

So, the brussels sprout plants that I had planted...had some troubles.

And then winter came which made the plants dormant...

Within the past week or so (since the temps have risen) they started to shoot up...BUT I've been noticing flowers...

Which I read online as the plant is going to seed.

For now it has these teeny brussels sprouts...

I think I need to wait for the "next season"...

How's your garden?