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posted: May 31st, 2015 |
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This page begins with May 17th and a trip to the Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefecture Boundary Area in search of Paeonia japonica in bloom. Then we jump to May 23rd and our 109th climb of Mt. Takao and our 55th climb of Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama in search of whatever we could find. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin May 17th |
On May 17th we got up at 4:30 AM and after getting ready, we headed for the Kawaguchi Lake area and then the "Prefecture Boundary" bus stop where we went back on April 18th. When we went there on that date we found a small valley that had an abundance of Paeonia japonica plants growing and we wanted to see if they were in bloom. The first 2 shots in this row show Polygonatum odoratum plants in bloom. The first shot also shows Mt. Fuji in the background. The 3rd shot is a nice one of Mt. Fuji.
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In first position in this row is a 2-shot panorama of Mt. Fuji. The 2nd shot shows that the Paeonia japonica that we came here to find in bloom had, unfortunately, already finished for this year. In this shot you can see seedpods on the plant. By the way, if you want to refresh your memory of last month's photos of this area CLICK HERE (new window or tab). The 3rd shot is a nice blue and green scenery shot.
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This photo of Mt. Fuji shows that just 2 or 3 hours after the shots in Rows 1 and 2, clouds were forming around Mt. Fuji, and it was not nearly as picturesque as it had been earlier. The 2nd shot shows an Azalea - a Rhododendron molle ssp. japonicum. That's it for May 17th - a rather disappointing adventure when all was said and done, primarily due to there being a traffic jam on the way back to Kawaguchi Lake Station, which turned a 50 minute bus ride into one that lasted for more than 2 hours!
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| End May 17th, Begin May 23rd |
On May 23rd we went out to climb Mt. Takao (for the 109th time) to see if anything was in bloom. In first and second position are shots of Caesalpinia decapetala var. japonica. We had never before noticed this tree here. It is very well hidden behind the other trees and we could only see it from one very small "window" through the trees, as you may be able to deduce from these photos. The third shot shows that the Dendrobium moniliforme - The Japanese Stone Orchid (Sekkoku in Japanese) was already beginning to bloom - this was a surprise to us - we cannot ever remember it being in bloom this early in the year. Generally we find it at its peak during the first couple weeks of June.
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Here are 3 more shots of Dendrobium moniliforme - The Japanese Stone Orchid (Sekkoku in Japanese).
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And here are another 3 shots of Dendrobium moniliforme - The Japanese Stone Orchid (Sekkoku in Japanese). The 3rd shot kind of gives you an idea of how abundant this species is in these very old and very tall cedar trees where it is out of reach to plant thieves.
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Three more shots of Dendrobium moniliforme - The Japanese Stone Orchid (Sekkoku in Japanese). WOW! It's so very amazing to find such beauty so high up in the trees.
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The first shot in this row should give you a good feeling for the abundance of this Dendrobium moniliforme - The Japanese Stone Orchid (Sekkoku in Japanese).
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All three images in this row show the same clump of Dendrobium moniliforme - The Japanese Stone Orchid (Sekkoku in Japanese). The first shot is zoomed in moderately. The 2nd image is actually four shots which were merged together in Photoshop, so this shot is zoomed in a great deal. The third shot is only zoomed in a little bit.
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This clump of Dendrobium moniliforme - The Japanese Stone Orchid (Sekkoku in Japanese) is higher up on the mountain and most people do not even notice this one because one has to stop and look back to see it. The 2nd shot is of Helwingia japonica and the third shot is of Pseudopyxis depressa.
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Here is a shot of Pseudopyxis depressa f. angustiloba in first position and then a shot of Pseudopyxis depressa. Notice the difference in the shape of the flowers. The 3rd shot shows Mt. Fuji from the summit of Mt. Takao.
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Now we have hiked about 45 minutes towards Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama. We are actually now at I-Ccho-Daira and the first shot in this row shows a flowering Mountain Dogwood (Benthamidia japonica). This is the species which we showed you the fruits of last September. If you want to see those very interesting fruits again CLICK HERE (new window or tab). The second and third shots show Calanthe discolor - another orchid - close to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama.
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In first and third position are additional shots of Calanthe discolor. This species was finishing up and the flowers are well past their prime. The center shot shows a Paeonia obovata - the rare Japanese Pink Woodland Peony. A LOT of people now know the location of this plant - while we were there around 5 or 6 people came by to photograph it - so this probably means that it will soon be stolen by plant thieves. As you can see, the flowers are not yet open - we'll have to return here next weekend.
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Here are two shots of Cremastra appendiculata - another orchid. We found this group of three plants down near Hikage Creek.
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Here are the final three shots from this adventure - all of Cremastra appendiculata - another orchid. The outlined area in the first photo shows what is included in the second image.
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| End May 23rd, End May 2015's Photos, Begin Miscellaneous Links |
Here are links to separate web pages - all of them will open in a new window (or new tab). The first link shows some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV. The 2nd link shows our entire DVD collection in DVD Profiler (if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend). The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on the "Title" Column to sort that way if you desire. The 3rd link shows our entire DVD collection in php DVD Profiler, which is much more sophisticated than the plain vanilla DVD Profiler just above it. The 4th link takes you to a set of pages which show you the FRONT cover-art of our entire DVD collection.
