ライムが咲き進む Tahiti Lime with more flowers

 城北中央公園での早朝散歩の帰り道、近くの屋敷林を通ったらこの古木に珍しいものを見かけました。

On our way home from our morning walk in the Johoku Central Park, we passed through a woodland where we saw a rare sight.

アオゲラです。とても珍しい鳥だそうで、落葉の季節になると城北中央公園の広場では、横の林に来る野鳥を観察する人たちの最も期待する鳥です。その広場に集まる人たちは仕事をリタイアした現在、惜しみなくソニーの高級カメラにお金を注ぎこんで、まるでプロの撮影隊のように集まって野鳥が来るのを待ちます。鳥が警戒しないように林から離れた位置で、巨大な望遠鏡を通して撮影します。

対して、今朝のタイガと私は２メートルほど離れた小路を通ったのですが、鳥たちは飛んで逃げることはせずに、地上１メートルほどのところにいたのが足を使って木を登っていきました。しかも頻繁に幹を突きながら移動したので、特に警戒している様子ではありませんでした。木の横を通り過ぎてから今朝はスマホを持っていたことを思い出して撮影。こんなに近くで見られて、何だか得した気分になりました。

These birds are Picus awokera (Japanese Green Woodpecker).  They are rare birds and are most sort after by birdwatchers who come to the Johoku Central Park in autumn and winter.  Those bird watchers are retired men with money to spend on expensive Sony cameras.  They gather in the field near the woods, looking like professional photographers with their heavy equipment.  So as not to startle birds, they keep their distance from the woods and rely on their huge lenses.

In contrast, Taiga and I passed a footpath that was only 2 meters away from this tree where the birds were.  Initially, I saw the birds about 1 meter above the ground on the tree trunk.  As we walked past, they did not fly away.  Instead, they crawled up the tree, frequently stopping to peck at the trunk.  They did not seem to be scared of us.  Only after passing by the tree, I remembered that I had the camera with me and started to follow their movement.  Having seen these birds at such close distance, I felt blessed.

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今日の練馬区の最高気温は28℃だったそうです。この暑さで２階バルコニーに置いてあるタヒチライムの花が咲き進んでいます。

Today's maximum temperature in our Nerima Ward reached 28℃.  Thanks to this warm weather, more flowers are opening on the Tahiti Lime tree on the upstairs balcony.

棒苗スタートで今年が４年目ですが、花着きがこれまでになく密で爽やかな香りがあたりに漂います。オレンジの花の香りは濃厚なのに対し、タヒチライムのは透明感のある甘い香りです。

It started as a new plant with no branches, and this is the 4th year of growing.  I have never seen so many flowers in dense clusters.  The scent is delicate compared to the heavy sweet scent of orange flowers.

リスボンレモンも以前は２階に置いていましたが、根詰まりを起こしたので根っこの整理と地上部のダウンサイジングのために１階へ下しました。そのまま冬も外で過ごしたので、蕾が出るのはタヒチライムに遅れていました。

This Lisbon Lemon also used to be kept on the upstairs balcony.  Last spring, I brough it down since it had become rootbound.  After reducing the excessive roots, I also downsized the tree to make it more compact.  The plant has been in the garden since, and spending the winter outside has resulted in flower buds coming out late.

最近になって、この特徴的な黒紫色の蕾が出てきました。

The recent warm weather has brought the flower buds out.  The dark flower buds are typical of Lisbon Lemon.

タイガは暑くて座布団は拒否。

It was too warm outside for Taiga to sit on the cushion.

ライムに花 Flower on Lime

 2階バルコニーに置いてある10号鉢のタヒチライムに昨日から花が一輪咲き始めました。季節的に早いせいか、香り方はとても繊細で高貴な匂いです。もう子房が丸く膨らみ始めています。

I found a flower opening yesterday on the Tahiti Lime plant on the upstairs balcony.  The scent is very delicate and beautiful, and not powerful at all, probably due to the early season.  The ovary is already starting to grow.

タヒチライムは自家結実します。蕾が開く前からオシベとメシベがある程度熟しているらしく、メシベが蕾の中から出て来た時点で受粉済みです。

Tahiti Lime is self-pollinating.  It seems that the stamen and pistil become mature enough for pollination before the flower petals open, so by the time the pistil comes out of the flower bud, it is already pollinated.

蕾がたくさん出ているので、これからの開花が楽しみです。

There are lots of flower buds this year and I am looking forward to seeing the tree in full bloom.

去年の春に玄関横の種無しスダチに、一箇所だけタヒチライムの枝を接いでおきました。その後全く変化が有りませんでしたが、去年の夏の猛暑の間でも樹皮が新鮮だったので生きていることは確実でした。

I grafted a Tahiti lime scion on the Seedless Sudachi in spring last year.  The scion since then showed no sign of change, but I was confident that it was alive since it remained green and fresh even after the historically hot summer last year.

１年経って今やっと芽吹きが始まっています。私の接ぎ木の腕ではよくあることです。種無しスダチの横に植わっている大実柚子に接いだブラッドオレンジモロの枝は、２年以上も変化なしでしたが一旦芽吹くと勢いが良く、去年たくさんの実を着けました。

After one year, buds have started to come out.  This sort of delayed growth happens quite often, due to my grafting skill level.  The Blood Orange Moro scion that I grafted on the Yuzu tree remained dormant for more than 2 years.  Once it started to bud, the growth was very fast and, last year, the new branch produced a lot of fruits.

その種無しスダチに２-３日前、新たに２箇所 高接ぎしました。これ↓はそのひとつで、プチマル金柑。

Back on the Seedless Sudachi, I grafted two scions a few days ago.  This↓is one of them, and it is Seedless Kumquat.

こちらはベルガモットです。

This is Bergamot.

先日ヤフオクで落札した紅筋山百合の芽が出てきました。左の芽は球根が極小だったもので、今年の開花はなしです。右側の芽は十分な太さがあるので、蕾が出るでしょう。

The Red Yamayuri lilies that I bought recently on an auction site have started to come out.  The flimsy bud on the left is from the tiny bulb.  The more substantial bud on the right is from the larger bulb, and it is likely that I will get a flower this summer.

花はこのタイプ：

The flower should look something like this.

その向こうに写り込んでいる青い陶器の鉢に埋まっているのは、去年の夏に開花苗として買った紅筋山百合で、色は薄めのタイプです。

In the blue pottery behind the Red Yamayuri are bulbs that I bought last summer when they had flowers.  These flowers are of different version of Red Yamayuri, with light colours.

これが去年の花：

This is how they looked last summer.

ライムに蕾 Flower buds on lime tree

 今日の練馬区は最高気温が21℃だったようです。暖かいのは嬉しいけど嵐のような強風もすごかった。

冬の間  無煖房の２階部屋で過ごしたタヒチライムをベランダに出して、数か月ぶりの直射日光に当ててやりました。

The maximum temperature reached 21℃ in Nerima-ku today.  Warm weather was such a welcome thing, but the spring gale was also strong.

I moved the potted Tahiti Lime tree out to the balcony, so that it could enjoy the direct sunlight after several months of indoor life.

最近になって、蕾が泡ぶくのように出てきました。無加温の部屋のせいか、今年は綿カイガラムシが発生しなくて安心です。

A lot of flower buds have started to come out.  While the tree was inside the room, I never turned on the heater.  This seems to have worked in preventing cottony cushion scale this winter.

タイガも久しぶりに外でゴロゴロ。道行く人たちを眺めるのが楽しいようです。タイガの背後に写り込んでいるのは、

Thanks to the warm weather, Taiga enjoyed sitting in front of the porch.  She loves watching people pass by - some of them call her name as they go.  

The plant behind Taiga is

去年の５月に買って美味しく食べた「芯まで食べられるパイナップル」をクラウン挿しにしたものです。冬の間、タヒチライムと同じ部屋で過ごしました。

the cutting that I made of the pineapple with delicious soft core, in May last year.  The cutting stayed in the same upstairs room as the Tahiti Lime during the winter.

挿したときの画像は以下の２枚。こんなに簡単に育つとは、よほど生命力が強いのでしょう。

The following two photos are how the crown looked like, when I prepared the cutting.  It grew fast probably thanks to its natural vitality.

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昨日買ってきた苗はすぐに鉢植えにしておきました。ひと晩経って元気そうです。

The new herbs I bought yesterday were potted before evening.  They seem to have settled well overnight.

原種デイジー:  wild daisy

パセリ:  parsley

コモンタイム:  common thyme

今日の乾燥した暖かい風を利用して、タイガのシャンプー後は自然乾燥の散歩に出かけました。いつもより早い時間の散歩は嬉しいはずですが、シャンプーで機嫌を損ねたようで、名前を呼んでも振り向きません。

Not to waste today's warm and dry wind, I shampooed Taiga in the afternoon, and we went out for a natural dry.  Going out for a walk at an unusually early hour, she should have been happy but for the shampoo.  When I called her name, she would not look at me.

前に回って声を掛けても顔を上げようとしませんでした。

So, I walked ahead of her and talked to her, but she remained sullen.

台風15号 Typhoon No.15

 台風15号の影響で、今日は朝から雨が降りっぱなしでした。午後２時のタイガのオシッコ散歩のときも、雨合羽の装着なしでは出られないほど。でも、夕方４時半頃には急速に台風の影響が消え始めた印象です。予報では明日は台風一過の青空で、気温も再び30℃超えになるようです。

Due to the effect of passing typhoon No. 15, we had continuous rain since we woke up this morning.  When we went out for Taiga's toilet walk at 2 p.m., the rain was so hard that the raincoat was indispensable.  However, at around 5 p.m., the typhoon seems to be heading towards the ocean, away from the land.  According to the forecast, it will stop raining during tonight, and we will have blue sky all day tomorrow as if nothing had happened.  And, the maximum temperature will easily exceed 30℃, as before.

近所のライオンズマンションの向かいにある空き地の、その更に向こうには、完成間近の分譲マンションが建っています（写真右側）。以前ここにはタクシー会社の古い本社建物、自前の整備工場、自前のガソリンスタンドと広大な駐車場がありました。コロナで一時的とは言え大きな影響を受けただけでなく、クルマのEVシフトの影響もありガソリンスタンドは無くなり、駐車場はこぢんまりした新本社社屋横の立体駐車場に移されました。時代の変化を感じさせます。

Across the field near my home, there is an almost completed block of flats (on the left).  This used to be a vast place owned by a tax operating company, with its old Head Office, own repair shop, own petrol station, as well as a vast carpark.  The Covid outbreak had a deep impact on the tax operator - less demand for taxis and less need to keep many cars, and the shift to EV meant that the petrol station was becoming obsolete.  As a result, the land was sold off.  They shoved the Head Office function into the newly converted space underneath the multi-story carpark across the road, what were left of the cars were housed in the existing multi-story carpark, and no more repair shop or petrol station.  To think that during the bubble economy of the 80's, this tax operator was a force in Tokyo, I really feel the flow of the times.

マンション建物の周りには数日前に樹木が植えられたものの、猛暑で葉っぱがカリカリになっていたので、今回の台風の雨に救われたはずです。

Several days ago, they planted trees around the block, in the middle of the heat wave.  The leaves were starting to go dry and crack in the hod wind.  So, this passing typhoon with its heavy rain must have been a blessing.

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もう９月。うちのミカン「日南の姫」は極早生品種で、９月以降の収穫が可能だそうです。

We are already in September.  The tangerine Hina-no-Hime is an extra early ripening variety, and it is possible to start harvesting in September.

２個だけ、少し色づき始めました。

Two fruits have started to turn yellow.

バルコニーが暑すぎて木が弱っていた数年前は、まともな実を味わったことがありませんでしたが、今年こそはと思っています。

This tree nearly died on the upstairs balcony, since it got too hot during the summer every year, and I never had a decent fruit.  So, I am looking forward to tasting the fruits this year.

実のサイズは派手に大きくはなく、昔タイプのミカンを思いださせます。

The fruits are not particularly large - more like the tangerines we used to have when I was a child.

９月はスダチの季節でもあります。この種無しスダチを以前は10号ロングスリット鉢で育てていたときは毎年鈴なりでした。あまりに成績が良いので玄関横に地植えにしたら、木の成長に栄養が集中して実は生りませんでしたが、今年初めて３個の実がついています。

September is also the right time to pick my Seedless Sudachi.  I used to keep this plant in a 30 cm diameter pot, and it proved to be prolific.  When the pot became too small for the tree, I planted it in the soil near the porch door.  For the first 2 years, it concentrated on growing the tree.  This year, it started to produce fruits again - though only 3.

ネット情報によると「最も香りと酸味が強くなる旬は８月上旬から９月下旬の露地物」だそうです。現在うちのは指で挟んでみると石のように硬いので、もう少し待ったほうが果汁がのると思います。種無しは最高です。多田錦は普通の柚子よりも小振りになってしまうけど、種無しスダチもカボスも、実のサイズは種あり品種と同じ、でも種が無い分 果肉・果汁がたっぷりで、料理に使うととても有難いです。しかも、両者ともにトゲ無し。

According to the information on the net, 'Sudachi's best picking time in terms of flavour and taste is between early August and late September'.  Currently, mine are as hard as stones when I feel them between my fingers, so I am going to wait for a few weeks to get more juice inside.  My Sudachi and Kabosu are both seedless and thornless.  The sizes of the fruits are no smaller than the regular ones with seeds.  So, for the absence of seeds, I get more flesh and juice in each fruit, and this is a great fact when I use them in cooking.

プチマル金柑 Seedless Kumquat

金柑のプチマルは７月の頭から咲き始めて、今でも返り咲きを繰り返しています。朝食後の洗い物をしていると、網戸を通して花の甘い香りが漂ってきます。

The seedless kumquat started flowering at the beginning of July.  As is the way with kumquat plants, my seedless variety also repeatedly flowers throughout the summer.  It is again in bloom right now and I can smell the sweet scent when I open my kitchen window in the morning.

何度も咲く割には、幼果のつきかたは「鈴なり」というわけではありません。でも、真夏には他に柑橘類の開花は無いので、自家受粉で種がほとんど入らないのが有難いです。

Considering how often the tree blooms, the young fruits are not exactly in abundance.  However, this tree being the only citrus plant flowering in the summer, the seedless characteristic of this cultivar is enhanced.

この小枝は大実柚子に高接ぎしたもの。こちらは着果率がバツグンでした。

This tiny twig is grafted onto Yuzu.  Although a tiny graft, its fruit setting has been good.

私が夕方散歩前に写真を撮り始めたので、辛抱強く無言で待つタイガ。５時半に家を出ましたが、帰り道では首輪状の明りが活躍しました。暗い道を黒っぽい犬が歩いていると目立たないので、人とぶつかるのを防止できます。

I started taking the above photos just before leaving for our evening walk, and Taiga waited patiently.   We left home at 5:30 p.m., and it was completely dark on our way home - days are really getting shorter.  The dog collar light is indispensable for Taiga to avoid accidents, since she becomes almost invisible in the dark.