 |
posted: May 31st, 2010 |
Go To Page:
|
|
This page continues May 3rd, starting at 11:16 AM - a trip to Ichi-No Waterfall in Yamagata Prefecture. The next adventure was a trip to Jindai Botanical Garden on May 8th and then a trip to and climb of Mt. Takao on May 9th. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
|
| May 3rd Continues From Page 2 |
Okay, it's 11:16 AM and we are hiking up a trail to Ichi-No Taki (Waterfall). We came here last year too and found a new violet for us. We hoped to find it again this year, but with the cool spring which we have had this year there was still a good deal of snow left in this valley and we saw very few flowers. Oh well! The 2nd shot is a Corydalis ambigua. The 3rd shot is me standing on some of the very prevalent snow.
|
 May03_IchiNo Waterfall_067_RC |
 May3rd055 IchiNoTakiRC |
 May3rd058 IchiNoTakiRC |
Here is Ichi-No Taki (Waterfall) in first position. The 2nd shot is one more Trout Lily (Erythronium japonicum) and the 3rd shot is yet another Trout Lily, but this one features Ichi-No Taki (Waterfall) in the background!
|
 May03_IchiNo Waterfall_076_RC |
 May03_IchiNoWaterfall_086 _Erythronium_japonicumRC |
 May3rd066 IchiNoTakiRC |
The first shot in this row is a Coltsfoot Plant (Petasites palmatus). It is an edible mountain vegetable, and in fact we picked this one and mother made tempura with it. We also harvested other mountain vegetables on this outing and we had many different mountain vegetables for supper. They make for very delicious tempura. After we finished hiking the Ichi-No Taki (Waterfall) Trail and then back to the car we went to a Ramen Shop and had a kind of local specialty Ramen for lunch - it was delicious and you can find a photo of it on Kazuya's Blog entry for this date. On the way home we asked father to drop us off at a place where we found Viola violacea var. makinoi yesterday. So the 2nd and 3rd photos show you that species of Violet. The sun was at a great angle and we got some amazing photos of this relatively rare Violet.
|
 May03_IchiNoWaterfall_093_ Coltsfoot_Petasites_palmatusRC |
 May03_Funagata_106_Viola _violacea_var_makinoiRC |
 May03_Funagata_141_Viola _violacea_var_makinoiRC |
Here are 2 final shots of Viola violacea var. makinoi with the wonderful sun angle. From here we walked back home - a few kilometers. The 3rd shot is the final photo of the trip - taken at 5:29 PM - as we crossed the Oguni River. The next day we woke up to rain - and that was okay with us because our plan was to return to Tokyo anyway. We considered ourselves very fortunate to have 5 days of virtually rain free skies!
|
 May3rd168 FunagataRC |
 May03_Funagata_152_Viola _violacea_var_makinoiRC |
 May03_Funagata _200_SceneryRC |
| End May 3rd, Begin May 8th |
On Saturday, May 8th, Kazuya and I went to Jindai Botanical Garden on our bicycles to check out the progress of spring flowers. First of all, we were amazed at how everything has become so GREEN in the past couple of weeks. It is quickly changing from spring into summer as far as the amount of green is concerned. The weather (temperature) is not really summer-like yet though. The first photo in this row shows poppy plants which they have growing near the entrance. The 2nd photo is a small part of the Azalea Garden. The 3rd photo is an incredible Rhododendron sp. bush.
|
 May8thJindaiBG 002_PoppiesRC |
 May08_JindaiBG_012 SIP_AzaleaRC |
 May08_JindaiBG_032 _RhododendronRC |
Here is me standing in front of some Rhododendron bushes. The 2nd photo is a Calanthe sp., or Ebine in Japanese. It is an Orchid. The 3rd shot is another Rhododendron sp. This one is called "Blue Peter". What a name!
|
 May8thJindaiBG023_ Rhododendron_DanielRC |
 May08_JindaiBG _061_EbineOrchidRC |
 May08_JindaiBG_049_ Rhododendron_BluePeterRC |
Here is another Calanthe sp., or Ebine, then a beautiful Azalea and then a final Calanthe sp.
|
 May8thJindaiBG 044_EbineOrchidRC |
 May08_Jindai BG_114_AzaleaRC |
 May8thJindaiBG 049_EbineOrchidRC |
The first 2 shots in this row show the Garden's Wisteria Trellis. Heavens, this thing is amazing to see. It is probably about 100 meters in length. The first shot is zoomed in, so distance is foreshortened. The 2nd shot is zoomed just a little bit. The 3rd photo was in the greenhouse. It is a Cactus. We thought it was cute because it looks like the top of an old man's head with grey heir and some kind of cute little flower hat! And, that's all for Jindai Botanical Garden.
|
 May08_JindaiBG _090_WisteriaRC |
 May08_Jindai BG_082_WisteriaRC |
 May08_Jindai BG_102_CactusRC |
| End May 8th, Begin May 9th |
On Sunday, May 9th, we climbed Mt. Takao. This time we were specifically in search of Viola maximowicziana, and that is what all 3 of these photos in this row are. In first position note how the sepals are curly in this species. It is one of the identifying marks. None of these photos show it, but the leaves have red veins and they are very hairy - if you are truly interested then I suggest you visit  . This is one of the latest blooming violets around here. It also mostly blooms in the deepest shade, so it's really hard to photograph.
|
 May9th020_MtTakao_ ViolaMaximowiczianaRC |
 May9th021_MtTakao_ ViolaMaximowiczianaRC |
 May09_MtTakao_030 _Viola_maximowiczianaRC |
Here is a really beautifully colored Orange flowered Azalea bush. The 2nd and 3rd shots are Polygala japonica. This is a fairly uncommon flower, and we saw more of it today than we've ever seen before. It is so very tiny. In the next row you can see 2 photos which show you a toothpick beside it for scale.
|
 May09_MtTakao _048_AzaleaRC |
 May09_MtTakao_062 _Polygala_japonicaRC |
 May9th052_IcchouDaira _PolygalaJaponicaRC |
Here are the 2 photos of Polygala japonica with a toothpick beside it - for scale. The 3rd shot is a very beautiful Orchid - a Cephalanthera falcata - it is known as Golden Orchid in Japanese.
|
 May09_MtTakao_075 _Polygala_japonicaRC |
 May09_MtTakao_076 _Polygala_japonicaRC |
 May09_ICchoDaira_117 _Cephalanthera_falcataRC |
Here are 3 more shots of Cephalanthera falcata (Golden Orchid). This was the most beautiful example of this which we had ever seen.
|
 May09_ICchoDaira_084 _Cephalanthera_falcataRC |
 May09_ICchoDaira_097 _Cephalanthera_falcataRC |
 May09_ICchoDaira_083 _Cephalanthera_falcataRC |
Here are 3 shots of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima. The difference between this and the normal Viola phalacrocarpa is that Viola phalacrocarpa has tiny hairs on the flower stem and this Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima is very smooth stemmed. This was a great color and size. Impressive - at least to us.
|
 May09_Kobotoke_ShiroYama_131 _Viola_phalacrocarpa_f_glaberrimaRC |
 May09_Kobotoke_ShiroYama_140 _Viola_phalacrocarpa_f_glaberrimaRC |
 May09_Kobotoke_ShiroYama_145 _Viola_phalacrocarpa_f_glaberrimaRC |
Here is a final shot of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima - notice how I have tried my best to show the flower stem in each of these shots. The final shot is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photo. It is 3 images of Hikage Creek near the bus stop and the 3 different exposures (underexposed, properly exposed and overexposed) have been "fused" into 1 image.
|
 May09_Kobotoke_ShiroYama_147 _Viola_phalacrocarpa_f_glaberrimaRC |
 May09_HikageCreek _166_67_68_FusedRC |
| End May 9th, End Page 3 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Please continue on to page 4, which begins with May 14th. |
Go To Page:
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Link to Amazon.com (new window).
We get 2% of whatever you spend if you go to Amazon from this link!! Please shop on Amazon from here.
| If you would like to donate to our hiking & traveling fund or show your appreciation for our efforts you can donate through PayPal. A single donation will entitle you to request a single full-sized photo IN THE DONATION MONTH - which you may then use as a desktop wallpaper or whatever. The copyright will be retained by us and the photo will be inconspicuously marked with the copyright symbol (©), year and photographer's name. (Donation probably not tax deductible.) |