Blackberries - the bush

Highlighting our 12-year-old blackberry bushes.  First, these are thornless.  These are easy to grow and easy to propagate.

We have  two stakes about 10 feet apart with three rows of wire stretched between them.  The plants are placed about 3-4 feet apart.  The plants grow long, thin branches which we anchor onto the wires with twist ties.  When they get long enough to touch the ground from any height, you can bury the tip of the branch about 4-6 inches in the dirt and it will root and become a new plant after a minimum of six weeks.  Then you can cut it from the mother branch.  It can be dug up and planted in another area if needed.   You can also cut the long branches and it will form side-branches and fill in the bush.

The flowers are in a clump and are a light pink.  Once fruit appears, place a net over the bush so the birds don't eat the fruit.  It first is red, then turns dark and is easily pulled off when ripe.   Lots of seeds in the berries. We use a standard fruit plant fertilizer.  Water well in dry weather.  It flowers in May/June and fruit is ripe in July/August.

Fruit grown on branches this year will not produce again and need to be cut down to the ground after harvesting is over.  That gets a little tricky when tracing the branch entangled with others.  New growth this year will produce fruit next year.

The bush from one end. It does not need a wide space, but enough to get around the entire bush.  The deck makes it a bit tight, but do-able.   Lots of new growth extending beyond the stake.

The flowers will be blackberries in July.  Last year there was a multitude of growth as you can see it's bushy on the left and right, while the mid-section is a bit sparse.  This is normal growth.  Many new plants/canes were started last year.

This particular plant is at least 8-9 years old.  Old canes are cut to the ground after harvesting, so the base gets thick.

The thick canes are new growth for next year's fruit.

More information can be found at these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberries
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/fruit/blackberry/

This won't happen again...

...at least in  the lifetimes of Henry and me.  I was never that good with numbers except balancing a checkbook.  :-)

On May 18th, I turned 60....drum roll....OK, that's enough.  Henry turned 60 in January.

On  May 16th, Stephen turned 30.

Up to June 10th, Sara will be 15, she turns 16 on the 11th.

So here's the deal...Currently, we are twice Stephen's age and he is half our age.  In turn, Stephen is twice Sara's age and she is half his age.  And we are four times Sara's age and she is 1/4 our age.
Spiffy, huh?

To celebrate this momentous three weeks, here's the newest of the iris in the garden--a beautiful deep purple with crinkly petals.

More garden images.

The sprout in the back left and in the center (with the remainder of last year's growth) are the beginnings of  Emperor Dahlia.  These grow to nine feet and bloom in November (maybe).  I  transplanted the root there in the center of the photo, as it was right next to the AC unit on the left.  

From my kitchen door, I see columbine, iris and red basil.  The blackberry bush is to the left. 

This bed is next to the Dahlia and next to the deck coming out of the church room.  The flowers in front left are called Shiran or bletilla striatta; a type of lily, I think. They are perennial and spread easily. 

This is a neighbor's lavendar and white iris, although it looks blue here.  I hope he'll share  some rhizomes  :-) 

My happy pinwheel--large and small spinning in opposite directions.  

Spring Garden images

May is my favorite month, not just because I'll be turning 60 here in a few days.  Flowers, birds, insects abound with life and it is so good to just watch and listen.  
The first iris to bloom on May 1.

This is a bearded iris that is actually lavender, but the camera makes it look bluish.  Pretty in either case.

These are a dense ground cover called ajuga or carpet bugle; it has a purple flower and is perennial.

Tulip in two colors 

Hubby bought a roto tiller for a great price. Here he's trying it out.

Hyogo Flower Park

We went to the Hyogo-ken Flower Park about an hour West of here.  The thousands and thousands of tulips were just gorgeous--some 460 varieties set out in the ground or in pots.  There was not one weed to be seen in the entire place!  Many of the tulips were planted with pansies.  My garden won't ever look like this.  Spring has come to Kobe. 

This is called a sausage tree--very odd fruit. 

Banana tree with flowers

Pitcher Plant

 

Birds and Sakura

Spring has come to Kobe with the Sakura trees blooming profusely.  There are many rivers that are lined with these stately trees with their branches stretching out over the water, or making a canopy to walk under.  Many people take picnic lunches and dine under these marvels of God's handiwork. These photos do not do them justice.

Then there's the new set of spring birds returning from their winter havens.  I think the Redstart has departed until the fall as it has not been seen for several days.  We will miss his bright orange plumage.

This guy looks fat and happy  ;-)

Then there's the newest additions to the garden flower beds:

These birds were hopping across the ground until they got to the bean plants, then perched on the wire.

The newest pinwheel--Welcome to My Garden--it's a double one and both spin in opposite directions. Makes for a very happy garden!

March update #2

Last week we took the Welch family, visiting from Kansas, up to Kyoto for some first-hand culture intro.  We rarely go anywhere in Japan, so this was a real treat.  First stop was the Kodai Yuzen-en where we hand-made our own souvenirs.

Here we are, waiting to begin. It went rather quickly once we got started.  The artisans hand us each a brush with paint.  We fill in the holes on a stencil of the design.  Layer by layer we add color until the final one.

The foreground is a stencil awaiting color.  Mr. Welch is adding color to his stencil.

Sara and Emily are waiting for the final white color to be added by the artisan. They made inserts for a mug-cup.

I did this tiger on the back of a happi-coat (kimono style jacket) for Mr. Welch. 

Here's the finished product with black accent lines added--really good, huh?

Pastor Welch with his tiger coat. 

An artisan painting a design on kimono fabric which is 12 meters long by 18 inches wide set up on those rollers. 

We then visited Nijo Castle which was recently renovated.  This is the main gate--gorgeous colors and designs.

I think this is a plum in bloom.

Carp or koi fish in the moat.

The ever-present Engrish signs.  Self explanatory.

Not sure why we needed to, but there you have it.

The first sakura in bloom--a sure sign of spring in Japan.

February/March update

My, where has the time gone?  Weather-wise, it's been colder than usual, but Spring is coming.  Here's a couple of typical pictures last week.

Snow falling at 10:17 a.m. 3/21/14 

Sunshine at 10:18:18 a.m. 3/21/14   go figure---

Our Field Conference was the week of March 10 bringing the missionaries in Japan, both military and national, together that week. It coincided with the Japanese Bible Conference.   We renewed acquaintances and made some new friends.

Jeff Welch from Kansas preaching as Ron White interprets.

These two little ones were doing a duet on the piano. Looked like they knew what they were doing.

Here's Tim waiting with plate in hand for the signal to get some food. 

Karen and Timmy came with their parents to our church on 10/16 for a special meeting.  We normally don't have children for Sunday school, so we got out the toy box for them to play in.  You should have heard Karen's squeals of delight--it was so funny--they could be heard in the church room!

L to R - Mr. Wakimasu, Mr. Curley and Mr. Harris joined us.