Gingiber, garlic herb, spring chrysanthemum, bob rhubarb: To many of us these may be unfamiliar garden vegetables, but they sure sound worth getting to know. Henry Ueno may be known for his vegetables, but he also grows fruit trees and flowers, and his front yard, with its subtle, exquisite landscaping, is an oasis of tranquility.

A shoulder injury brought about by overly enthusiastic garden preparation made it impossible for Henry to grow vegetables last year, so he is eager to get started on this year’s garden now that spring has made a coy appearance.

In addition to the previously mentioned exotics, he grows four kinds of "regular tomatoes," which mature at different times in different sizes and colors. Henry and his wife Atami usually eat six big tomatoes each day when they are in season, sharing the inevitable surplus with friends and neighbors. There are also three kinds of cucumbers in his garden, including the Japanese variety.

"In Japan, they grow three feet, but here they are about 18 inches long. They have almost no seeds."

Henry’s prolific produce is the result of both hard work and cleverness. The gardener uses a system of raised beds that both warm the soil and save water.

"I’m not a farmer," he says modestly. "I don’t have any scientific knowledge. Love and attention is why they grow."

Henry takes pride in tending to his garden "all by myself," and he takes delight in his wife going out to the garden to harvest vegetables to use in her cooking.

When he isn’t gardening, Henry is likely volunteering in the community. He is a board member of the Japanese Ancestral Society and volunteers at Ikoi So Terrace, a senior living facility, as well as at Ikoi No Kai, a hot lunch program for elders, both Japanese and others. He is a member of Oregon Nisei Veterans, the Japan-America Society of Oregon, the Japanese Garden Society of Oregon, and the Portland-Sapporo Sister City Association.

While Mr. Ueno may be best known for vegetables and volunteerism, sit down in his living room on a rainy morning and you might hear a story or two, and his wife might join in with a story or two of her own — and the stories might surprise you.

Henry spent his childhood in the shadow of a war between his two countries. A U.S. citizen, he lived in Japan from 1931 to 1949. While people of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned in the United States during World War II, in Japan he and his family were dodging bombs day and night. Two houses belonging to Henry’s uncles — with whom Henry was staying on both occasions — were destroyed by incendiary bombs. The aftermath of that war, he says, "was even worse. There was nothing to eat for two years."

Both Henry and Atami were born in the U.S. — Henry in Pendleton, Oregon and Atami in Hilo, Hawaii. Atami moved from Hawaii to Japan when she was 12, but met Henry on a ship travelling from Japan to the United States in 1949. Atami disembarked in Honolulu, but Henry was headed for Portland.

The two corresponded for eight years, during which time they kept "missing each other in Japan." Henry wrote to Atami’s father asking for permission to marry her. "It’s an unusual situation," explains Henry. "He’s never seen me."

Apparently Atami’s father was impressed enough to agree to the marriage and the sweethearts finally met again in 1959, "almost 10 years to the date" of their first meeting.

Six years later, the couple moved into the house they still occupy and Henry broke ground for a garden he would tend for the next four-and-a-half decades … and counting.