flowers | Saying nothing in particular

The flowering plant featured this month on the Wasabi calendar is the Akebia Quinata or the Chocolate Vine, a native of Japan, China and Korea whose fruit is harvested in late August and September.

Akebia grows on hedges, slopes and hills and is similar to the Dragonfruit. The rind of the fruit is used in vegetable and meat dishes and the pulp is considered a sweet delicacy but don’t eat the seeds. They are bitter and nasty. As its name implies, it has a chocolatey aroma.

However some plant guides warn that Akebia is an invasive species.

In September there are two national holidays in Japan: September 15th, Respect for the Aged and September 23 Autumnal Equinox Day. Being in the “aged” category myself, I think we deserve more than one day a year to be respected, don’t you? Thus saying, I would probably hide in my house on a Respect for the Aged day rather than be pointed out to young children:

“Look! There’s an Aged who can still walk!
Smile for the Aged, children!
Clap for the Aged!
Let’s take the Aged’s wrinkly old hand and walk the Aged through town for everyone to see!”

Yikes!

Autumnal Equinox Day marks the first official day of fall and is yet another time set aside for the Japanese to honor their ancestors. However, visiting a graveyard in late September could be deadly (no pun intended). The bulbs of the Red Spider Lily are planted in graveyards because they contain an alkaloid toxic to animals and so the graves beneath them are not disturbed. Even humans are wise to avoid the touch of the Red Spider Lily, aka Flower of Death.

And guess when these death plants blossom?

Happy September everyone! Beware the Red Spider Lily!

When we first moved into this house there was a vegetable garden in the backyard with several varieties of tomatoes and sugar peas and cucumbers. Probably a few other veggies too but it’s been a long time and so I can’t remember. Besides the vegetable garden, the previous owner had an iris garden and a lavender patch. Her gardens were what sold me on the house. But you know, gardens take a lot of work. Unless, of course, you’re lucky enough to have a good gardener and not a mow and blow operation.

The next year I attempted to grow a vegetable garden with what little time I had between raising children, working and volunteering. And occasionally trying to write a story or paint a picture.

Alas, the green beans were inedible and various garden pests – rats, moles, snakes, squirrels, birds – took care of the other veggies. The moles were the worst because they eat the roots of the plants.