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posted: May 31st, 2010 |
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This page begins with a May 14th trip to Nogawa Park, and some photos of some flowers. The next trip was to what I will only refer to as a hike of a ridge in "Far Western Tokyo" on May 15. We are becoming afraid to say where we go because when we discover great places and post the names on our websites then the places have a habit of becoming too popular. We don't know if it's entirely coincidental or if it's due, at least in part, to our websites. Anyway - this was a beautiful place without too many people hiking the 10+ kilometer trail, so we don't want to say the name. On May 16th we went to the Tama River near our home and found some interesting flowers. In the evening we saw the Moon and Venus from our porch - it was amazing! The final adventure on this page is a portion of a trip to Mt. Mitake and Mt. Ohtake on May 22nd. The May 22nd adventure continues on Page 5. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin May 14th |
On Friday, May 14th, Kazuya and I both had the day off. We went to Nogawa Park, near our house, to check out the progress of the late spring flowers. The first shot in this row shows a fine example of Mazus miquelii. The 2nd photo is the white-flowered form - Mazus miquelii f. albiflorus. The 3rd photo is an Amsonia elliptica.
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 May14_NogawaPk_03 _Mazus_miqueliiRC |
 May14_NogawaPk_06_Mazus _miquelii_form_albiflorusRC |
 May14_NogawaPk_09 _Amsonia_ellipticaRC |
The first photo in this row is a Primrose - specifically a Primula japonica. The 2nd shot is Philadelphia Daisy or a Philadelphia Fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus). The 3rd shot is a Polygonatum involucratum.
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 May14_NogawaPk _10_PrimroseRC |
 May14_NogawaPk_18_ PhiladelphiaDaisyRC |
 May14_NogawaPk_22_ Polygonatum_involucratumRC |
In this row you can find a beautiful Day Lily in first position. In 2nd position is a Lamium album var. barbatum. You saw the yellow version of this last month on Page 2 Row 11. The 3rd shot is something which we have never noticed before, or maybe we've just never been to Nogawa Park when it happened to be blooming. The red flowers were spectacular - it is probably (but not surely) a Weigela hortensis. That's the end of the trip to Nogawa Park.
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 May14_NogawaPk_ 40_DayLilyRC |
 May14_NogawaPk_ 44_Lamium_albumRC |
 May14_NogawaPk_50 _RedFlowerBushRC |
| End May 14th, Begin May 15th |
On Saturday, May 15th we got up at 4:00 AM and got ready. We took a 6:01 train headed west. We went to a station on the Chuo Train Line and then took a bus an hour further. For the reason I am not telling you specifically where we went see the introduction at the top of this page. The first shot in this row shows what the scenery looked like where we exited the bus and started hiking. The 2nd shot is Mt. Fuji from a mountain which we summited on our hike. The mountain was 1,188 meters (= 3,898 feet). We did not expect to have such a good view from here. It was nice and quiet - not many people. The 3rd shot is what we came here in search of Viola hirtipes or Sakura Sumire in Japanese.
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 May15_FarWestTokyo _029_Viola_hirtipesRC |
First position in this row is a Viola phalacrocarpa - a really beautiful flower. The 2nd shot is a Viola rossii and you can see the cute little curly leaves in this shot. The 3rd shot is another Viola hirtipes. This was a high enough elevation so that it was still very early spring - leaves just beginning to come out on the trees.
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 May15_FarWestTokyo_ 040_Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
 May15_FarWestTokyo_ 038_Viola_rossiiRC |
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Here are 3 more shots of Viola hirtipes or "Sakura Sumire".
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 May15_FarWestTokyo _061_Viola_hirtipesRC |
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Here is a scenic shot from the ridge which we hiked along. The places where we could see out from between the trees were few and far between. It was nice scenery and you can still see the delicate greenery of spring. The 2nd shot shows a section of the trail which we hiked. Notice how small the tree leaves are. The 3rd shot is a Cleistogamous Flower on Viola chaerophylloides f. sieboldiana. In violets these seeded "flowers" are not the result of an actual blossom.
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 May15_FarWestTokyo _083_SceneryRC |
 May15_FarWestTokyo_103_Viola_ chaerophylloides_f_sieboldianaRC |
As we were coming off the mountain we were shocked, excited, amazed - to find a Wild Peony - a Paeonia japonica - which was at its peak of flowering. This plant is so exceptionally rare that in all our years of hiking we have only seen them about 4 times and this is only the 2nd time we had ever seen one blooming in the wild. It was about 50 meters or more DOWN the mountain through very steep woods, but there was no way we were going to pass it by without slipping and sliding down to it for some photos. There were actually 3 plants. The first photo is the first plant. It only had one flower and it was not yet 100% opened. The 2nd photo is a very old tree stump - not much left of it but a few pitch saturated knots. The 3rd shot is the 2nd Peony Plant. It was only 3 meters from the first plant, but I stuck this portrait mode stump photo between the two for balance between 2 landscape mode photos.
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Here is Kazuya beside the 2nd and 3rd Paeonia japonica (Wild Peony) plants for scale. As you can see - this is a pretty large plant and a large blossom. The 2nd photo shows more detail of the blossoms and the 3rd shows more detail of the plant.
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 May15_FarWestTokyo _140_Paeonia_japonicaRC |
 May15_FarWestTokyo _143_Paeonia_japonicaRC |
 May15_FarWestTokyo _151_Paeonia_japonicaRC |
| End May 15th, Begin May 16th |
On Sunday, May 16th, we went out on our bicycles. We started from home and bicycled to the Tama River and then up the Tama River for about 6 kilometers. We crossed the river on a highway bridge and went to a spot which is used by birdwatchers. We hiked along the river for a little while and found some interesting flowers. The first thing in this row is a common clover plant, but very pretty. The 2nd photo is a Coreopsis lanceolata. It has been Tone-Mapped to bring out the beauty of the colors. The 3rd photo - well - when I stepped out on the porch at just after 7:30 PM to check the temperature I saw the moon and Venus like this. I rushed in the house to get my camera, 1.5x tele-converter and tripod and then rushed back out to take some photos. I shot about 25 and this was the best one. I wish it was in focus better - but it's not.
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 May16_TamaRiverBird Place_13_CloverRC |
 May16_TamaRiverBirdPlace _24TM_YellowFlowerRC |
 May16_Moon_ Venus_01CropRC |
| End May 16th, Begin May 22nd |
On Saturday, May 22nd, we took the Okutama Holiday Special Train out to Mitake, took the bus to the base of the mountain and then the cable car to the top. We hiked from there to the actual summit and to some other peaks. In this row you can see 3 shots of Paris tetraphylla. We have seen this plant before, but we've never seen it in bloom. We had no idea what the flower looks like - it's quite cute.
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 May22_Mitake_Ohtake_ 011_Paris_tetraphyllaRC |
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This plant - a White-Flowered Azalea (Rhododendron quinquefolium) is one of the reasons we decided to hike the specific course which we hiked. Note that it has a leaf with 5 leaflets - other Azaleas have a leaf composed of 3 leaflets. Interesting.
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 May22nd027Okunoin_ RhododendronQuinquefoliumRC |
 May22_Mitake_Ohtake_045 _Rhododendron_quinquefoliumRC |
 May22nd044Okunoin_ RhododendronQuinquefoliumRC |
In this row you can see 3 examples of Viola sieboldi f. variegata. These are the best examples of this violet which we have seen this year. Note how the leaves are variegated - that's the reason for the "f. variegata" in its name.
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 May22_Mitake_Ohtake_035_Viola _sieboldi_var_variegataRC |
 May22nd029Okunoin_ ViolaSieboldiFVariegataRC |
 May22_Mitake_Ohtake_037_Viola _sieboldi_var_variegataRC |
In this row you can see 3 examples of Viola sieboldi - note that this is the non-variegated leaf version of the violet in the previous row. We found these specimens along a different part of the trail.
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 May22_Mitake_Ohtake _051_Viola_sieboldiRC |
 May22_Mitake_Ohtake _053_Viola_sieboldiRC |
 May22nd052Nabewari _ViolaSieboldiRC |
| End Page 4, but May 22nd continues on Page 5 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at the this page. Now please continue on to Page 5 for the conclusion of May's photos. |
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