coccoon-like flowers in our silk-themed garden
「あっ、床の間に糸巻機械が飾ってある！」
「えっ、庭に蚕棚が掛けてある!」
と、先ほどに亀清の「紬」テーマの客室に案内したら、お客様が感動してくれました。
私が説明しました。「そうですよ。その壁に飾ってあるタペストリーは上田紬で、私の手作りです。去年は庭師二胡の庭を作ってもらったので、桑の木も植えました。」
それでまたお客様が嬉しくて思い出して「子供のころは桑の実を食べっちゃいけないと言われたが、良くこそこそで食べたよね」と。
そして、この庭のもう一つな特徴は繭を思わせる花もあります。今は蛍袋（Campanula punctata Lam.）が咲いています。普段は紫の花だが、庭師が珍しい白い花のを見つけて、植えてくれました。
まあ、気が付かない方がほとんどでしょうけど、私にとっては非常に嬉しい所。
"Ahh, isn't that a silk thread spool there in the tokonoma alcove?"
"Hey, and those are silk worm raising trays there hanging on the garden wall, right?"
Those were the comments of tonights this afternoon as I showed them their guest room that we have been remodelling after a tsumugi (silk) theme.
I explained to them a bit further. "That wall hanging is made of silk in the Ueda tsumugi tradition, by none other than yours truly. And in the garden there is a mulberry plant."
That started a whole new round of memories. "Oh, remember how we were always told not to eat the mulberries but we snuck them in our pockets and ate them anyways?"
We had our gardener make design the new garden around a silk theme. One of the plants blooming right now is a spottled lantern flower, Campanula punctata Lam. Usually the flowers are purple, but our gardener managed to find a rare one with white flowers. Doesn't the shape vaguely resemble a silk coccoon? Most people probably wouldn't realize the connection, but that's find. It's like my little secret.
