Hello

Last month, our beloved ash plant, Toneriko, started to shed its leaves. Not just one or two but most of them. The plant has been with us since I first moved in with my husband thirteen years ago. It has been a very easy plant to look after. In fact, it’s the type of plants we see everywhere around our urban jungle neighborhood in Tokyo, requiring little maintenance. But strangely, something was different this year.

I was worried and tried to cut some branches and give this green plant liquid as I had always done every year. The pot size seemed fine, the amount of watering appeared to be adequate, but nothing seemed to work. Despite my efforts, its leaves kept turning yellow and eventually falling onto the floor.

For the past few days, however, there are a lot of these baby leaves started to emerge. I immediately looked up online, and apparently this is “generational change” and occurs when plants are ready to move on and have a fresh new start.

It seems like it signifies our life as well, with a few positive changes coming our way. It’s been a challenging few years for us, but maybe we can finally sit back and relax…?