Diary of My Country Life-August 8th, 2026

The original source of this blog: https://www.lotusandmichael.com/blogs/diary-of-my-country-life

08/08/2026 Saturday 72-91F Cloudy 

I watched an online program before--it was about a restaurant located in a mountain area of Japan. The dishes offered in the restaurant varied by season because all the ingredients were sourced locally from the mountains. In spring, they used wild vegetables for their cuisines; in summer, the assigned villagers delivered them wild caught fish from the nearby streams; in autumn, the food source was plentiful, like mushrooms and chestnuts; winter was the low season; the area was often covered under snow. Even then, they still managed to get goodies in the forests and rivers. They only cooked what they found fresh and nutritious for their customers; and they didn’t mind modifying their menu or recipes to suit what was available that day, and adjusting the flavor based on the customers’ tastes. 

What impressed me the most was the pepper tree they found: It grew in the mountain, thorny and bushy. In Autumn, when the peppercorns turned pink, it was really lovely to see them. They picked fresh peppercorns and added them into their braise. When they opened the lid of the pot, I felt like I could smell how umami it was.  

After watching the program, I spent some time searching for a similar pepper tree. I wanted to plant it so I could harvest fresh peppercorns. But my search was fruitless. Then last week in a flower group I joined, someone offered free pepper tree seedlings. I was thrilled; I hurried to contact that person and brought a seedling home last Saturday.  

Now sitting on the porch in an old terracotta pot, my baby pepper tree has been in its new home for one week and sprouted a new set of leaves. I am positive that it likes its new environment. Once it grows bigger, perhaps next spring, I will plant it in the ground near the front steps. Then if everything goes right, perhaps I can harvest my first shot of peppercorns two years later. In its former owner’s home, a three-year-old big pepper tree grew in the backyard. I picked a fresh peppercorn and put it in my mouth. Nothing happened in the first few seconds; then all of a sudden, the flavor popped up—it was very strong, quickly numbed my tongue and lips, so I had to spit it out. Even so, the spice lingered in my mouth for quite a while.  

The owner told me that the peppercorns also could be harvested when they were green, just like all the other green peppercorns which weren’t that spicy compared to the red mature ones so would be good for vegetable and salad dishes; and that the dried peppercorns could be spread all around the garden to repel insects, and some might sprout into seedlings just like how she got hers.  

I love peppercorns, green, red, and black. I use them daily in various dishes, and use the red ones as an important ingredient in my homemade shampoo (improving the health of the scalp). Now my seedling is so close to my stool on the porch, and every morning I lay my eyes on it. Grow quickly, grow healthy, and I look forward to my fresh peppercorns! 

Other than the pepper tree, last week I also ordered one more tree peony—Pea Green, or Green of Beans, named after its greenish blossoms. I ordered the same cultivar three years ago but it died in the following spring. Now I repurchased it from a more reliable nursery, which will be shipped to me once it goes into dormancy this fall.  

So theoretically I have five tree peonies now in my garden, four of them are ranked historically as the most impressive tree peony varieties by their native country China (Chinese people seem to like ranking “the top four” of everything😂). Yellow Yao, the king; Purple Wei, the queen; Pink Zhao and Pea Green, I call them the “prime secretaries”. In fact, even my fifth tree peony was supposed to be Purple Wei but later turned out to be just an imposter . Sometimes I am thinking: “Am I trying to build an oriental, or a Chinese garden here? If not, why have I collected so many cultural symbolic plants like the orchid, the tree peony, the mume, and the sinensis?” Perhaps it’s about something embedded in my background—I heard about those legendary plants throughout the early stage of my life; therefore, I appreciated them, and once I could, I would like very much to own them instead of just letting them sit in the poems, in the stories, in others’ photos.  

Besides, with thousands of years’ history, an immense variety of plants and diverse climate, China is called the “Mother of Gardens”. Due to the limited space of my garden, I am a little peculiar about plants: Fragrant, longevity, edible, and nice looking—these standards align with the whole package of my lifestyle: Multifunctional, practical, aesthetic, and long-lasting value. After filtering the available plants, there aren’t many left for me. Fortunately, the plants I addressed above are part of the result. 

Another interesting plant which I purchased last week is Regal Lily (coincidentally native to western China too). From the documentary I watched, this lily originally grew among the rocks in the mountains. It’s heavenly perfumed; robust; cold, heat and drought tolerant. I couldn’t find any reason to prevent me from buying it, though both deer and groundhogs take lily flower buds as a delicious salad. 

“Heavenly perfumed”, the documentary said so, made it sound so irresistible to me. To experience its scent, I will plant the bulbs near my dining room window. When both honeysuckle and it blooms next summer, hopefully my house will smell like heaven—the meaning of double happiness 😘 (our signature embroidery). 

I didn’t mean to own so many plants in my yard; actually, my yard is pretty full now; but there are always new discoveries, curiosities, and experiences. Like William Kent’s quote which has been posted on my website since the very beginning--“Garden as though you will live forever", we should live a life as though we will live forever. Though we can’t control the length of our lives, the height, the width, the depth can be decided by us, by embracing our lives harder, more sincere, and more courageous.