Comments on: Winter in Kyoto: Lotsa Red Berries http://regex.info/blog/2007-12-29/675 Not a photo blog, but sometimes I play one on TV Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:51:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.12-alpha by: Grandma Friedl http://regex.info/blog/2007-12-29/675#comment-13155 Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:06:26 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2007-12-29/675#comment-13155 Wow, was I hoping the one comment listed would be Peters, identifying the berries. Hooray, it was!! Thanks, Peter. I was familiar with the pyracantha, which is beloved by Cedar Waxwings and other birds. I grew up with it in California. I was not sure of the Nandina, since I've never had any. We do have the exquisite Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) which is spectacular now that the leaves have dropped. I was tempted to use some on the altar of our Church for Christmas decoration against the backdrop of a Yew (Taxus Hicksii) screen that we painstakingly wired. Used red Poinsettias instead. Beautiful in any case. Wow, was I hoping the one comment listed would be Peters, identifying the berries. Hooray, it was!! Thanks, Peter. I was familiar with the pyracantha, which is beloved by Cedar Waxwings and other birds. I grew up with it in California. I was not sure of the Nandina, since I’ve never had any. We do have the exquisite Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) which is spectacular now that the leaves have dropped. I was tempted to use some on the altar of our Church for Christmas decoration against the backdrop of a Yew (Taxus Hicksii) screen that we painstakingly wired. Used red Poinsettias instead. Beautiful in any case.

]]> by: Peter http://regex.info/blog/2007-12-29/675#comment-13147 Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:46:29 +0000 http://regex.info/blog/2007-12-29/675#comment-13147 Great to see a bit of colour, now we're in the middle of dreary winter! If anyone's interested, I think the berries mostly nanten, Nandina domestica. Alas, my own three young bushes have not yet fruited, but I live in hopes. There was some Nandina foliage showing by the stone lantern that you almost retrieved the other day. I believe that it is traditional to plant nanten by lanterns and other "hard landscaping" feeatures in Japanese gardens. The one exception is the shrub by Nijo Castle, which is a firethorn (Pyracantha), perhaps P. rogersiana, which is not Japanese, but originates in Western China - or a garden hybrid derived from it. Great to see a bit of colour, now we’re in the middle of dreary winter!

If anyone’s interested, I think the berries mostly nanten, Nandina domestica. Alas, my own three young bushes have not yet fruited, but I live in hopes. There was some Nandina foliage showing by the stone lantern that you almost retrieved the other day. I believe that it is traditional to plant nanten by lanterns and other “hard landscaping” feeatures in Japanese gardens.

The one exception is the shrub by Nijo Castle, which is a firethorn (Pyracantha), perhaps P. rogersiana, which is not Japanese, but originates in Western China - or a garden hybrid derived from it.

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