posted: March 31st, 2016 |
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This page continues our trip to Nogawa Park on March 27th via bicycle. Then we show you what's happening with our porch plants on the same date.   Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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March 27th Continues From Page 1 |
  In the first photo in this row you probably only see some dirt, eh? Well, see the yellow outlined area in the center of the photo? The second photo is zoomed in to that area and in the second photo you can easily see a beautiful Viola japonica. The third shot shows a Gentiana zollingeri, a species that we did not expect to see today. This species is generally a bit later to bloom than this. Weird! |
March27_29_NogawaPk_ Viola_japonicaRC |
March27_30_NogawaPk_ Viola_japonicaRC |
March27th_11_NogawaPk_ GentianaZollingeriRC |
  Here is another shot of Gentiana zollingeri and then a photo of Kazuya with a nice smile. The third shot is a Euphorbia sieboldiana. |
March27th_13_NogawaPk_ GentianaZollingeriRC |
March27_35_Nogawa Pk_KazuyaRC |
March27th_16_NogawaPk_ EuphorbiaSieboldianaRC |
  All three shots in this row show that the Weeping Willow is starting to leaf out, but in the center shot you can see that ONLY the Weeping Willow is hardy enough to show its young leaves so early in the season. |
March27_36_NogawaPk _SpringColorsRC |
March27th_17_NogawaPk _SpringGreensRC |
March27th_19_NogawaPk _SpringGreensRC |
  Hmmm, what is this species? Possibly some kind of maple? It too is just beginning to burst its buds. The second shot shows the Nogawa (=No River =Field River). That area on the other side of the river, to the right and with the fence around it is the Natural Plants Area of Nogawa Park. In this photo you can again see that only the Weeping Willow is showing its young leaves. The third shot is, of course, a dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis).
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March27_38_NogawaPk _SpringColorsRC |
March27th_23_NogawaPk _SpringGreensRC |
March27th_20_NogawaPk _DendelionRC |
  Here are the final two shots taken in Nogawa Park on this date, both showing the Weeping Willow again. In the first shot you can again see the Nogawa (=No River =Field River). |
March27_39_NogawaPk _SpringColorsRC |
March27_41_NogawaPk _SpringColorsRC |
End Nogawa Park, Begin Our Porch Plants |
  Now we are back at home and the sun is shining on the northwest portion of our front "porch". The first shot shows a pot full of Viola japonica, do you possibly want to try and count the number of blooms? I don't. You may be questioning why this Viola japonica is such a very different color than the ones you saw on Page 1 in Rows 9 and 10 and also the one shown in Row 1 on this page. The answer is that Viola japonica comes in a variety of colors. Go HERE and scroll down to Row 10 to see some of the colors. In second and third position is the porch plant which we are most proud of - a huge Cymbidium goeringii orchid. This is what the single stem which we rescued from out of the roots of a fallen tree many years ago has become. The tree roots we rescued it from were up in the air and the poor orchid was just hanging there four feet above the ground. This plant has become so huge, in fact, that we split it into two parts about three years ago now. We'll show you a shot which includes the second part of this in a while. Of course you should notice the flowers.
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March27_02_Porch_ Viola_japonicaRC |
March27_03_Porch_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
March27_04_Porch_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
  Here is a shot of the same pot of Cymbidium goeringii orchid as shown just previously. We changed our position a bit so that the flowers show up better. The center photo shows the other one-half of this plant - the portion which we split off about three years ago. The third shot shows that our Zanthoxylum piperitum (Mountain Pepper) is leafing out nicely. These young leaves are used for spice. The leaves have a very strong and refreshing pepper flavor. When we're hiking in the woods we always rip a leaf off this bush to chew on when we see one of them growing.
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March27_05_Porch_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
March27_07_Porch_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
March27_09_Porch_ Mountain_PepperRC |
  In the first shot in this row you can see the Mountain Pepper tree and both pots of Cymbidium goeringii orchids. The second shot is included to give you a better feel of the size of the main Cymbidium goeringii orchid pot and plant. |
March27_10_Porch_ Mountain_PepperRC |
March27_12_Porch_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
  The first shot in this row shows that the Mountain Pepper pot also has some strawberry plants in it. These strawberries grew from seed and this is only their second year of life. You can also again see both pots of Cymbidium goeringii orchids. The second shot is a final one of the Styrofoam container of Viola japonica. WOW! |
March27_11_Porch_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
March27_14_Porch_ Viola_japonicaRC |
  I finally finished up the Heaven and Hell in the Philippines: Journal of a Peace Corps Volunteer book and it became available for purchase on March 28th. It took me 259 days to transcribe my five handwritten journals which I kept every day of my stay in the Philippines. This book begins on the day I left my house in Fairbanks, Alaska and ends 840 days later, when I returned to my home in Fairbanks. You might notice that I ended up changing the title from what I showed you last month. I changed it from "Two Years in Paradise....." because upon Googling "Two Years in Paradise" I got nine pages of results, not a result that I liked! Upon Googling "Heaven and Hell in the Philippines" no results were found, not a single one! Much better. At this time I still need to build a web page for this title as well as update the Publications page, the animated GIF and the clickable links collage which I include on the final page every month. By the way, it ended up at 508 pages, has about 35 black and white images and lists for only $18.29 on Amazon (link below).
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Heaven And Hell in the Philippines Link to Amazon.com sales page - Paperback Only (new window). |
End March 27th, End March 2016's Photos, Begin Miscellaneous Links |