Spring coming soon

It's fine and worm this weekend (Feb 27). Plants must have been started their activities for spring. But can I find some flowers in the end of February?

I've found! OINUNO-FUGURI (common Field-speedwell, Japanese name means large dog's tassel), which is small and blue, is blooming on the side of the road near a shrine.

 
HAKOBE (great chickweed) is also blooming with OINUNO-FUGURI.

HIME-ODORIKOSO (purple deadnettle, Japanese name means little dancing girl) become blooming at the bank of a paddy field at the other side of the shrine.

I drove away from that place and arrived at terrace paddy fields. I walked around the fields but I could not find blooming flowers except OINUNO-FUGURI.

 
OINUNO-FUGURI at here is fewer flowers with still read colored leaves.

I found buds of ASEBI (Japanese pieris, Japanese name means drunk horse tree) tree at the side of the terrace paddy fields.

The ASEBI will bloom by a couple of weeks, I think.
It was a fine day for flower watching today.

SETSUBUN-SO

SETSUBUN-SO, a kind of Winter Aconite, is one of the earliest blooming flowers in Japan.

This flower usually blooms start of February. SETSUBUN is the day before Vernal Equinox Day. The name SETSUBUN-SO just means the flower which blooms around the day.

I  watch SETSUBUN-SO every year. It is the start of flowering season and also the start of my taking photos of wild flowers of this year.  

This winter, the air temperature was lower than usual and it snowed very much. I was afraid a little that SETSUBUN-SO might not be blooming yet.

But look! pretty white flowers are there!

Today, I expected SETSUBUN-SO with snowing. Because it was snowing and covering on ground around my house. But there was no snow cover at the countryside where the SETSUBUN-SO existed.

Despite the situation, SETSUBUN-SO seemed smiling for me.
Here were buds and flowers at the next bank.

I have seen SETSUBUN-SO so many times. I always feel wondering that why the flower blooms at this late winter season? At the too cold season?

Any way, it has been started of the flowering season of this year!

SATOYAMA in Takatsuki (UTSUGI, YABUKOJI, KONASUBI)

Today, I walked around SATOYAMA in Takatsuki, north of Osaka Pref., two hours far by car from my house in Takarazuka, southeast of Hyogo Pref.

You may think there is nothing special to see in this season in such a field. But I dear say you must find some interesting thing.s.

First, dried berries of UTSUGI (means empty tree, Japanese snowflower). Sunshine is necessary for such a photo.    

Next, I found berries of YABUKOJI (means ..., sorry, difficult to explain, coral ardisia). The small read berries can be found easily in rice fields where almost grasses are cut off by a farmer in winter. 

 That must be a small dried AKINO-KIRINSO (means yellow-ring flower in fall, goldenrod).

This red small leaves are KONASUBI (means small eggplant, moneywort?). KONASUBI bears winter season turn in read.

I spent for watching and taking photos near an hour. It has not been so cold with soft sunshine today. I have enjoyed a small hike with a camera.

SATOYAMA sights in winter - KARASU-URI and HIGAN-BANA

I would like to start my blog from several plants which can be seen in SATOYAMA (Japanese traditional countryside such as rice fields with woods)  in winter.

I come home town in every new year holidays. My home town where I spend boyhood years is SATOYAMA. There are many kind of wild plants around my house.
I can find a few kind of wild berry even if winter. This time I found KARASU-URI (means crow melon, one of wild melon) which is fully ripe and turned red. Some of them are eaten by something (crow? monkey?). Just one berry is hang down in a branch.  

I walked around rice fields more.
There are so many leaves of HIGAN-BANA (means equinoctial week flower, red spider lily) over stonewall banks of rice fields.

The flower of HIGAN-BANA is like this;

 
It blooms in just equinoctial week. Almost rice fields in Japan are colored in red by HIGAN-ANA in that season. But leaves of the flower are extended only in winter for saving energy to bloom.