Singing Praises of Unsung Heroes

May is my favorite month of the year in Japan: it’s generally warm, dry and sunny with long days and the landscape is brilliantly verdant and lush, and that applies to my own garden. We’re only a couple of days into the month, though, so its full effects have yet to show, but that’s allowing lesser lights to take center stage, I realized this morning.

Sitting in our living room and looking out into the garden I got to notice how delightful the bush rosemary is with its plethora of dainty little blue flowers.

Despite being overshadowed by the bloody neighbor’s ferociously fast-growing bushes that take all the light from the western side of our garden, the bush rosemary has repeatedly blossomed, much more so, in fact, than its cousin on the eastern side that gets more exposure to sunlight, but has to compete with more plants.

Lilies left behind by our predecessor have also sprung up and get to stay because they look so beautiful.

And I can’t help but be absolutely thrilled to see the tree fern rolling out frond after frond, showing evidence of thriving in a manner I imagined would be tough as it struggled through the boiling heat of summer last year.

Perhaps the best songs are coming from all the birds, especially the additions to the newly installed arch, which is now adorned with a lyrebird, parrot and cockie? Nah, they’re actually all fake, but add a lovely touch, and it’s every little corner of the garden that is bringing such joy! And if May stays true to form, it’s only going to be more beautiful as the days pass.