Summer was way too hot. I went catching zarigani which is a kind of crayfish, and bug-catching too so I’ve got lots of bug photos to post. Summer’s flowers aren’t too exciting, the same old ones everywhere – hibiscus, orange trumpet vines-liriope, begonias- but I’ll post the few new ones I snapped while camping by the Lake Ashinoko in Hakone near Mt Fuji. Here they are:
See the bee among the hydrangeas?
Golden rayed lilies, a native flower.
Fly on evening primrose 
Nadeshiko/Dianthus superbus, native of Japanese mountains 
I took these in the wood near our tentsite. There are mostly maple trees some red pines and beech trees in the little wood. And then in the understory there were these….my mum says they’re lilies, I think they are orchids. I haven’t had time to ID them yet.
Silk Tree
A Sleeping Tree (nemunoki) as it is also called, in bloom is a beautiful sight isn’t it. I have one in my pot but last year I made the mistake of pruning it to the ground. It grows really slowly, but each blooms all along every branch there is. I love it. I was trying to catch the black admiral butterflies that were flying from flower to flower but they wouldn’t stay still for me to snap, so you’ll have to do with the black specks on this shot.
Below are flowers photographed at the Meissen Botanical Gardens of Hakone.
Kirishima-rintou
These Kirishima gentiana are very popular in autumn gardens and are native to the mountains. I shot these in the alpine Meissen Botanical garden in Hakone, they have a deep blue sheen to their petals. Many other species of gentians can be found…among these, the Ezo-rintou is very valued by gardeners.
Saxifraga Daiyamondasou
Also at the Meissen, were these beloved wildflowers of the Japanese. They are Saxifraga called Daiyamondasou in Japanese.
Isogiku
The sunny wildgrass you see in this picture is called “isogiku”. In Japan, there is no distinction between a grass or wildflowers, the so-called weed and any other flower. Each flower has the same status. Traditionally for hundreds of years, we have celebrated the “Seven Plants of Autumn” and the collection of must-view plants often includes grasses or what gardeners in other countries call weeds. So the beautiful susuki (miscanthus) and many other wildgrasses reign equal.
NATURE IN JAPAN 