四季成り果樹園芸: 正月用の花　Flowers for the New Year

昨日、玄関の内外および門のところのタイルと壁を、ナイロンタワシと石鹸水でガリガリ掃除しました。その後、正月用に買っておいたピンクの寒菊を玄関前に置きました。

I am in the middle of the 'big clean' ahead of the New Year. This is customary in Japan and I cannot welcome the New Year without doing it however I hate cleaning the house. After scrubbing the tiles and walls of the gate and the porch yesterday, I placed the pink winter chrysanthemum that I bought for the coming festive season.

開花を遅らせるために日陰に引っ込めてありましたが、どうやら正月まで持ちこたえそう。

This plant should be in full bloom over the New Year period.

慣れない大掃除で腰が痛いので気晴らしに地元JAを覗いてみました。数日前から気にかかっていた花がまだ有るか興味あったので。テーブルシンビジュームのピンク系です。数株あったのが、この１鉢だけ残っていました。しかも、数株あるうち私が一番気にっていた苗です。ラッキーと思って念のため周りを見渡したところ、

After the unusually hard work with the cleaning yesterday, I went to the JA this morning to look at the flowers. I was particularly interested in the orchid I saw several days ago. It was still there, although its siblings had disappeared from the shelf. This is a miniature version of the normal cymbidium, called 'table cymbidium' for its size. However, before I picked it up,

普通サイズ（大型）のシンビジュームが目に入りました。３株あるうち、背後にある苗に惹かれました。

I also saw these normal sized ones, which are quite large. One of them, the one in the back, particularly caught my eyes.

これです。他の株は花茎が２本ずつ有るだけなのに、これは今咲いている２本に加え、蕾状態のがもう２本あって同じ2,000円です。しかも、あのテーブルシンビジュームより500円安い。あー、値段に影響されやすい私です。どう考えてもこちらの方がグッドバリューに思えてなりません。また、あのテーブルサイズのカワイイ苗だと、テレビの横で埋もれてしまうかも....

The other two plants had only 2 flower stems each, but this one has 2 stems with open flowers and, in addition, it has 2 stems with firm flower buds yet to open. The three plants were all priced at 2,000 yen. Considering everything, this plant seemed such a good value. Also, compared with the 'table' one priced at 2,500 yen with only 1 flower stem, this with 4 flower stems would provide me with flowers to the end of March next year. (The flowers of cymbidium can easily last a few months in winter.)

ということで、普通サイズの方を連れ帰りました。

So, I came home with this one.

この苗の後ろ側に蕾の花茎がもう1本あります。シンビは普通でも軽く１か月以上花が持ちますが、この苗は蕾つきがもう２本あるので、開花が全部終わるのは３月末頃でしょう。

As already mentioned, this plant has two stems with flower buds: one is obvious in the picture, and the other one is growing at the back of the plant.

部屋に入れるまえに水やり。シンビの場合、水を注ぐよりはこうやってバケツ水にどっぷりつけておくのが良いそうです。これを開花中は１週間に一度やるそうです。

Before I took the plant into the house, I placed the pot in a bucket full of water. According to the expert on YouTube, this way of watering is recommended for cymbidium. During the winter months, do this once a week.