When my daughter started school 2 and a half years ago (I can't believe it has been that long!) the prefecture gave every new student some seeds to plant. We planted them, they grew a little, flowered a couple of times, but weren't all that impressive. Each year we kept the seeds and tried again and this year they finally seem to have done well. They are called "Moon flowers" and are basically a form of morning glory that opens out in the evenings (called evening glory in Japanese). They are huge compared to the morning glory flowers though and ours are extra special this year as they open out in both the morning and the evening. A double dose of pleasure!Speaking of pleasure, my son's homework today was "to go to bed early". I love his teacher! Mind you my idea of early and most Japanese people's idea of early is a little different.... my children were in bed with no complaints at 7:15pm. They are usually in bed by 8pm at the latest. Standard sleeping times for Japanese children (even at kindergarten) seem to be at least 9pm, but more often 10pm or later..... I'm not even going to get into that debate here tonight!
They are lovely flowers! My garden's looking rather tired and drab at the moment. I don't see moonflowers in Hokkaido so I wonder if they don't do so well here? Morning glories do grow but they tend to be a bit raggy and thin. I don't bother with them.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous flowers!
ReplyDeleteMy kids go to bed early, too. I get really stressed if they're not upstairs by 8pm, usually they head up the wooden hill at 7.30pm I need that peaceful time in the evenings!
Wow, that's huge!! Are they tsukimi in Japanese? I have tsukimi in the garden but mine are luminous and white in the evening/ night and wilted and (mysteriously) quite pink in the morning. Each flower only lasts one night but there are many flowers per bush so they look quite pretty. Your flower looks a lot bigger than mine though...
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your son's homework- what a great idea and I bet will help them all study better tomorrow more than writing out a page of kanji would too!