Bio Garden News

On Tuesday, August 8th, we cooperated with the "Summer Vacation Elementary School Students Environmental Study Session" hosted by Koto Ward, and 24 elementary school students living in the ward and their parents visited the Millennium Forest.
After a brief explanation of the Millennium Forest and the environmental issues surrounding us, the children were allowed to freely interact with the creatures using a handout checklist.

The bush clover has bloomed with pink flowers.
In fact, hawthorn is one of the seven autumn herbs!
The Seven Autumn Herbs are seven wild plants that color the autumn and were written about in a waka poem by Yamanoue Okura. They include bush clover, Japanese silver grass, kudzu, dianthus, ominaeshi, fujibakama, and bellflower.
Please note that unlike the seven herbs of spring, the seven herbs of autumn are not edible.

This is the Japanese barkberry, aspect by its pale purple fruit.
It is named after Murasaki Shikibu, a Heian period author known for "The Tale of Genji."
By the way, the flower's meanings include "intelligence" and "elegance," which perfectly matches the image of its name.

On a morning when the sun was shining brightly, I headed to the Millennium Forest and came across a black-crowned night heron bathing in the water.
The heron gazed intently at the surface of the water before jumping into the pond!

Herons are aspect for being quite large compared to other bird species, with the black-crowned night heron reaching a total length of about 60cm.
Even a simple bath is impressive.