Plants
The Flying Dragon Hedge
The garden's landscape architect, May Arbegast Kitazawa, specified that the garden would be surrounded by a hedge. She specified either the Flying Dragon citrus or a camellia. Don Dillon, the owner of Four Winds Citrus provided the Flying Dragons. Later when we needed to replace some missing plants, Four Winds Citrus donated 40 plants to fill in the gaps.
The trifoliate orange, Citrus trifoliata or Poncirus trifoliata, is a very twisted thorny bush and protects the garden very well. It is related to the citrus that we eat, but is very seedy and has an unusual medicinal taste. Read about it on wikipedia.
One recipe for a Flying Dragon drink is 4 bushels of water, 4 bushels of sugar, and one fruit.
Winter
While the plant is bare in the winter, flowers form. They resemble citrus flowers.
Summer
The fuzzy fruits form on the branches.
Fall
When ripe, the fruit is still fuzzy. It is filled with many seeds and has a someone unpleasant medicinal taste.
Silhouette
Check out the sharp and dangerous thorns that resemble a dragon's claws.
A Japanese Dragon
This widely shared image on the internet shows the similarity between the dragon and the plant in silhouette.
Gold-Thread Cypress
Not a cypress, but a false cypress, Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera Aurea'