ダリア咲き菊 Dahlia chrysanthemum

 今日は久しぶりの青空。昨日までの湿度が非常に高かったので、早朝のバルコニーや庭は夜露が降りてまるで雨が降ったかのようでした。実際は、昨日の夕方から空が急速に晴れて夜の12時には雲一つない空になっていました。寒暖の差が出て公園の木々も色づき始めています。

It was the first fine day this morning, after several days of rain.  The humidity until last night was so high that the plants and soil were all wet this morning as if it had rained through the night.  In fact, the sky started to clear up yesterday evening and, by mid-night, there was not a spec of cloud.  With the daily temperature alternating between cold and warm, the trees in the park have started to turn into autumn colours.

この暖かくて乾燥した気候は、いかにも秋。
I love this warm and dry weather, which is typical of autumn in Japan.

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スーパーの帰りに近所のJAに寄ってみました。そこで目にとまったのがコレ↓。タイガのすぐ横の苗です。一番左に写っているのは先日買った名無しの食用菊。

After doing shopping in the supermarket, I dropped into the JA nearby and found this pot of chrysanthemum (the one closest to Taiga).  The pot on the extreme left is the edible, nameless chrysanthemum I bought the other day.

これがその先日の苗。去年うちにあった「かなわ」に似ています。その「かなわ」は弱くて、かろうじて越冬したあと今年の初夏にかけて消滅していきました。この苗はもう少し丈夫に見えます。

This is the edible variety, and it looks very much like the one I had last year, called 'Kanawa'.  That one was very delicate and, after surviving the winter, it somehow melted away by early summer this year.  However, this plant I bought recently looks tougher than last year's.

で、こちらが今日ゲットした苗で、観賞用の菊です。

This is the plant I got today - an ornamental variety, as opposed to 'edible'.

最も咲き進んでいる花はダリアのように丸みを帯びています。ポンポン咲きの菊は好みではないけど、これくらいの丸みは変わっていて気に入りました。

What caught my attention is the shape of the flower in full bloom (the flower on the extreme left).  It is round just like a dahlia flower.  I do not like pompom chrysanthemum, but this dahlia-like flower is very much to my taste.

花びらの先端あたりに特徴があって、ダリアの花びらを連想させます。苗には商品タグも手書きの表示も無かったので、品種名は分かりません。花の中央をよく見ると、少し渦巻き状になっています。

The tip of the petal is also unique, which again reminds me of a dahlia flower.  Another characteristic is the center of the flower - it is formed like a whirlpool.  In the shop, this plant had no product tag or even a hand-written name of the variety, so I do not know what to call it, other than the 'dahlia chrysanthemum'.

来年以降もこういう咲き方をしてくれれば嬉しなあ。

I hope flowers will repeat this shape in the years ahead.

こちらは去年の秋に買った厚物菊。私は1本の茎に花は一輪だけというルールがどうしても守れないので、このようにだらしない咲き方になってしまいます。本来はカチっと締まった咲き方で、花の中央が盛り上がっているべきなのですが。花びらを一枚、生のままで食べてみたらほんのり甘かったので、食用菊扱いで湯がいて甘酢であえると美味しかったです。花びらに厚みがあるのと大きいのとで、歯ごたえのある食感です。また、花が大きいので一度にどっさり作れるのも魅力です。

This is the large flower variety I bought last year.  There should be just one flower on each stem and there should not be more than a few stems per plant - a rule that I can never discipline myself to follow.  The flower should be firm with no wandering long petals, and the centre of the flower should be slightly cone shaped.

This flower's petals have a mildly sweet taste if eaten raw.  When I blanched the petals and seasoned them with sweet and sour dressing, they tasted quite good.  The petals are thick and large, and they become firm when seasoned with vinegar.