Can you guess what flower you can see ofen in summer gardens in Japan ? Notin big beautiful Japanese gardens but in the small gardens of ordinary people ? It's morning glory. Almost all Japanese have grown this flower. It is easy to grow and get seeds, so is used in science lessons in Elementary Shool. When the Japanese children enter school at 6 years old, they plant morning glory seeds and take care of them while observing how they grow. When they bloom, children are very happy. They get new seeds, it is the end of the lesson about plants. They take seeds home and next spring, their mothers spread seeds in their small gardens or small pots. Little girls often enjoy making coloured water with this flower. Morning glories wither in the afternoon, girls pick these flowers and put them into water, rub untill the water turns light blue, purple or pink.

The Japanese have these memories, so morning glory is little bit of a nostalgic flower that ofen remind us of our childhood. It's neither gorgeous, nor long-lived, it is a simple and plain flower, but it is a special summer flowerfor Japanese.
(1st August 1996)