Cast-Iron Plant

Cast-Iron Plant is popular evergreen garden plant in Japan. This plant is very easy to grow in shaded area; it needs almost no care at all. Cast-Iron Plant often used as ground cover or pot plant. In Japan we call this plant as “Haran (葉蘭)” and often used cut leaves for decorating Japanese foods especially sushi and sashimi.

Sacred Lily

Sacred Lily is popular plant in Japan and we enjoy this plant by developing its leaves in several color patterns even though the red berries of this plant are also attractive as you can see on the picture. We call Sacred Lily as “Omoto (万年青)” in Japan and the meaning of the Kanji letters is green for ten thousands year because Sacred Lily is evergreen perennial plant. This plant is not popular in USA but it is good as ground covers or as foliage plant.

Leaves of Tiger Tail Spruce

This is a photo for leaves of Tiger Tail Spruce. Tiger Tail Spruce is a Japan native evergreen tree. We call this tree as “Hari-Momi (針樅). 針 means needle, because the leaves are hard sharp ends. This tree grows up to 30m (100 feet) and forms pyramidal shape.

Pink Flowers of Japanese Apricot

These pink flowers are Japanese Apricot (sorry for bad photo quality). Japanese Apricot bloom in late winter and the flowers have good fragrance. In Japan we call this tree as “Ume (梅)” and very popular. And we make a kind of pickles with the fruits of Japanese Apricot and these pickles are also very popular food for Japanese people.

Pink Flower of Japanese Camellia

Camellia is a very popular garden tree in Japan and we have many kinds of species. I posted Japanese Camellia trees and awhite Japanese Camellia flower on this site.

Leaves of False Arborviate

False Arborviate is sometime treated as shrub in USA because this tree was developed in many ways and created ornamental purpose shrub from original Japanese False Arborviate. In Japan we call this tree as “Hiba” (檜葉) and grows up to 36m (120 feet) height and used many way such as for housing woods or for kitchen goods because this tree is durable against insects, molds and water. So this tree is very useful and important tree in Japan.

White Camellia Flower

This is white Japanese Camellia flower. Camellia is valuable tree because it has flowers in winter season when we have only a few flowers.

In Japan, Camellia flowers are loved by birds such as “Hiyodori” and “Mejio”. These birds love the nectar of the flower and these birds help Camellia pollination.

Fragrant Tea Olive - Gin Mokusei

Fragrant Tea Olive grows up to 9m (30feet) but slowly. This tree has flower in autumn and spread strong great fragrant odor around it.

We call white flowers Fragrant Tea olive as Gin Mokusei (銀木犀) in Japan. And orange color Fragrant Tea Olive as Kin Mokusei (金木犀). Gin means silver and Kin means gold.

False Holly Tea Olive – Sasaba

These are leaves of Sasaba False Holly Tea Olive. This tree grow slowly up to 3m (10 feet) in the area of partial shade.

Sasaba is a Japanese word and means bamboo leaves in Japan. The leaves of Sasaba False Holly Tea Olive form long and spiny at the ends of them so the name of this false holly become Sasaba.

Japanese Red Pine

Red Pine is very popular pine in Japan. This pine usually grows in mountain area and we harvest “Matsutake (a kind of mushroom)” which grows only from the living root of this pine in fall season. (Matsutake is the most expensive mushroom in Japan.)