Report from Yokohama
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Alex (Akira) Endo lives in
Yokohama, Japan. He spent five years in Australia and during that time developed a love of
the plants that regularly grow in Australian gardens. Alex has planted many of these
plants in his home garden. Each month he shares his gardening experiences with Global Garden readers.
I
have a Mint Bush tree, which I got about ten years ago at the gardening shop. In
those days Mint Bush were booming in Japan. The fresh leaves smell was loved as
an herb, and also the sweet smell of the flowers attracted people. But nowadays
we rarely see the Mint Bush at the gardening shops. It
might have been too difficult for the people to grow Mint Bushes in cold Japan.
Japan
is in the middle of the beautiful rose season, and of course many Australian
flowers are blooming beautifully now. I have several bottlebrush trees in my
garden. I have grown them from seeds. I think bottlebrush trees are one of the
most easily adjusted trees to the Japanese climate. I grew some Dicksonia
antarctica from spores 12 years ago. The leaves are over two metres long
now.
My
dog Mel passed away after twelve-month battle with cancer on 24th May. She had
operations twice on breast cancers last year. She was ten years old. Her name
Mel was named after Melbourne, where we spent a happy life for five years. I
first kept Mel, an English Cocker Spaniel, when I lived in Melbourne. Mel is a
memory of Melbourne for me. She used to stand by me all the time when I was
working in my garden. I hope Mel will become the sun and shine in my garden
forever.