A woody plant native to East Asia, the japanese maple features hand-shaped leaves with five-pointed lobes that resemble the palm of a hand. It has been cultivated for millennia in Japan for bonsai creation. Extracts from the branches and leaves of this plant are used as medicine in Chinese traditional medicine.

The bigleaf hydrangea is a deciduous shrub native to Japan, and is known for its lush, oval, colorful inflorescence. The two types of Hydrangea macrophylla are mopheads - with large, ball-shaped, sterile flower clusters, and lace capes - with small round fertile flowers in the center, and sterile flowers on the outer side of each inflorescence. Depending on soil pH, blooms can change color from pink to blue.

Linden Arrowwood (Viburnum dilatatum) is a deciduous shrub that will grow from 1.8 to 2.5 m tall. It blooms from late spring to early summer with clusters of fragrant, creamy white flowers. Produces bright red berries in fall that attract a variety of birds. Dark green foliage turns to shades of bronze and burgundy-red in fall. For abundant fruit, plant two or more shrubs close together.

Japanese bird cherry is a deciduous tree of Rosaceae. Its Japanese name comes from the grooved board used in ancient tortoise shell divination. It can be distinguished from the similar Inu cherry, its inflorescence branches with leaves.

Soybean (Glycine max) was domesticated by the Chinese 6,000 to 9,000 years ago. In the eighteenth century, Europeans used soybean for ornamental purposes. It’s a versatile plant grown both for consumption and as an ingredient in manufactured products. It was even used by Henry Ford to make plastic parts for his Model T.

Height 15 to 30 cm. There are no bulbs and white and slightly thick rhizomes. The flowering season is from spring to summer with a white flower of about 1 cm in bloom at the tip of the stem and a black berry after the flower.

Japanese callicarpa fruit is an important food source for deer and various bird species. This plant is grown ornamentally for its attractive flowers and fruit, and it is a good pioneer species that can be used to revegetate degraded soils.

The stem grows up to about 5 meters high. Wakae has hair at the beginning but gradually disappears and black spots are gradually appearing on green smooth skin. As it gets older it gradually becomes covered with a rough gray bark. The leaves are western paper and oval dark green and not shiny. The back of the leaf is a little whitish. Hermaphrodite. The flower is yellowish green and blooms in a diffuse inflorescence from the side of the leaf at the same time as the leaves come out in spring. There are 9 stamens for male flowers and ovary for female flowers. The fruits are berries and ripen black around fall.

The japanese tree clethra is a dense, deciduous shrub. It produces fragrant white flowers that are attractive to bees and butterflies. Its showy and fragrant blooms add value to gardens and can grow up to 2.5 m high. It has received the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

The vine wraps from left to right, with a thick stem about 2 cm in diameter. The bark is gray-brown to reddish-brown, with round bark and irregular cracks. The leaves are alternate, palm-shaped compound leaves with three leaflets. The lobules are 2 to 6 cm long and 1.5 to 4 cm wide, oval to broad oval, concave at the tip, round at the base, and wavy serrated edges. The surface of the leaves is dark green, the back is light green, and both sides are hairless. The inflorescences are drooped or bent from the side of the new leaves, and about 10 to 30 small male flowers are attached to the tip of the inflorescence, and 1 to 3 large female flowers are attached to the base. The fruit is a berry, wrapped in thick skin and forms a stubborn cocoon. The length is about 10 cm, it is oblong, and the bulge on the tip side is larger than that of Akebi. As it ripens in the fall, the color changes from green to purple or magenta, and the skin ruptures, revealing jelly-like flesh inside. The pulp is white and contains many black seeds.

Japanese chestnut is a medium-sized chestnut tree that has been used in plant-disease resistance research due to its resistance to chestnut blight and ink disease. An important nut crop, the plant grows in the foothills of Japan and Korea, where the nuts are enjoyed as a sweet snack.

Quercus serrata is a deciduous oak tree reaching a height of 25 m. Leaves are up to 17 cm long by 9 cm wide leathery elliptical in shape with serrated margins. Petioles are short (3 cm). Flowers are pistillate inflorescences from 1.5 to 3 cm long occurring in spring. Seeds are oval shaped acorns 1.7 to 2 cm long and take 1 year to mature. Bark is grey or reddish-brown with longitudinal furrows.

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree 15 to 30 m tall, with slate grey bark. The leaves are large, 16 to 38 cm (rarely to 50 cm) long and 9 to 20 cm (rarely 25 cm) broad, leathery, green above, silvery or greyish pubescent below, and with an acute apex. The flowers are also large, cup-shaped, 15 to 20 cm diameter. The fruit is an oblong-cylindric aggregate of follicles 12 to 20 cm long and 6 cm broad, bright pinkish red.

Japanese wisteria (*Wisteria floribunda*) is a vigorous climber and requires a sturdy structure to support its weight when mature. In spring, it produces hanging clusters of fragrant, purple, pea-like flowers. These are followed by bean-like pods which burst open with a loud “pop” to disperse their seeds. Its beauty ensures it remains popular, but it is invasive and needs strict control.

The leaves are odd-winged double leaves with 4-8 pairs of leaflets. The leaves are ring-shaped and the smaller the lower leaves. Hair grows densely on both sides of the leaf. The leaves of mature trees are rounded but the leaves of young trees have saw teeth. The petioles and leaf stems also have hair and are reddish. It turns red in the fall. It is a hermaphroditic strain with yellow-green flowers around spring. The fruit is tonsil-like and has stings on the surface.

Tree height reaches 4 m. The bark of the trunk is dark brown, the young branches are green, often purple-brown, and have no hair or long simple hairs. The leaves are opposite, the petiole is 1 to 2 cm long, usually reddish, with long, downy hairs, sometimes with short bundles, with grooves on the top, and usually without stipules. The leaf blade is 6 to 14 cm long and 4 to 9 cm wide, the shape is from oval to broad oval, the tip sharply narrows and sharpens, the base becomes wide wedge-shaped, round, dull, the edge is shallow 3 There are square saw teeth. At the end of the short branch, a flowering inflorescence with a pair of leaves and a diameter of 6 to 10 cm is attached, and many white flowers are densely attached. The fruit is a spherical or ovoid drupe, 5 to 7 mm in length, ripe to a shiny dark red. The nucleus, into which one seed enters, is oval, 4.5 to 7 mm long and 1.8 to 2.5 mm thick, with two shallow grooves on the dorsal side of the nucleus and three on the ventral side.

Hibiscus syriacus is a deciduous shrub with trumpet-shaped pink, lavender, or white flowers. Although it was first collected by Western botanists from Syrian gardens, “rose of sharon” is native to south-central and southeastern China. Because of its hardiness and prolific blooming, it is cultivated all around the world. It is the national flower of South Korea, mentioned in its national anthem.

Kaempfer azalea is a vibrant, broadleaf evergreen shrub that blossoms with funnel-shaped, bright orange to red flowers. Typically found in Japan, this hardy species thrives in forested, mountainous regions, showcasing its glossy, oval shaped leaves which add year-round interest. Its distinct floral coloration contrasts sharply against the deep greens of its foliage, signaling the arrival of spring.

Smooth wavy-leaf basketgrass is a low-growing, sprawling grass often found carpeting forest floors and shady areas. Its long, slender leaves, marked with a distinctive variegation or streaks, thrive in the dappled sunlight. This plant adapts to its environment with a hardy root system that stabilizes soil, forming dense mats that prevent erosion and support the understory ecology.

Grey snake-bark maple is a shrub that can grow into a tree with distinctive mottled, striped bark that resembles a snakeskin - hence the name. The alternative name of redvein maple is attributed to the red-brown color of the leaf veins. Like many maples, grey snake-bark maple hosts larvae of the Imperial moth. It also attracts pollinators such as bees.