I found four young cherries on the bank of outer moat where my comute train passes every day. They locate between Suidobashi and Ocyanomizu. Unfortunately I couldn't go near. So I couldn't identify properly. I think they are Yoko Yoko because of the color and blooming time. It's too late to be Kawazu - zakura. Also colour of the petals are too flat pink and no tint of colour at the edge of the petals.
One of my friends lives in Shanghai now. We went to Fukuyama together for the reunion on March 7, 2015. She told me that cherries around her Condo were blooming, but they were not as beautiful as Japanese cherries. They are the cherries to eat. After she went back to Shanghai, she sent me pictures of cherries there. They are Shina-mi-zakura. She said the fruits were a little small but the taste was the same.
They are really amazing-looking. I found a page with a close-up of the flowers and a photo of the fruits. Those stamens are not only very long but they look very hefty.
Koishikawa Korakuen on March 30,2015 We're also having a not-good-year for cherry in Tokyo. Somei-yoshino started to bloom a little earlier than usual and finished very quickly. Somei-yoshino started blooming on March 23 in Tokyo. It became full bloom on March 27 and the temperature went over 23, 24 degrees. So Somei-yoshino became already beyond good condition on April 5. Also when I had whole free days, the weather weren't good. After somei-yoshino finished, the weather became rather cold and wet. On March 30, I had a bit of free time in the late afternoon, so I visited Koishikawa Korakuen which is just 20 minutes ride of bicycle from my condo. I have visited there before and I thought there were not many cherries so I haven't visited at peek bloom. But the Japanese garden with cherries was so beautiful. There was one Yae-beni-shidare just started blooming near the entrance. Then you can see Shidare-zakuras(Ito-zakura). I'd like to call one of them really Ito-zakura (Threads cherry) because thin branches fell down like threads. It has flowers of Edo-higan family. But other two, I'd like to call them Taki-zakura (Falls cherry) because looked like falls of a lot of flowers. Code: The larger one at the back looked more pinky like Beni-shidare or Yae-beni-shidare. It has semi-double flowers but they were bigger than the flowers of Yae-beni-shidare and it bloomed earlier than Yae-beni-shidare. Main pond looked beautiful with several Somei-yoshimo. Maples were just getting greener. There are three cherries by the small pond. Two stands together and one at the other side. One of the stand-together was Edo-higan. I couldn't identify the other one. I saw them when I visited there on March 30, 2011 and posted on #23. They were just started blooming then. Unknown was a beautiful cherry with rather large flowers like Oshima-zakura. But the buds were rather pink and it has hair but not as much as Somei-yoshino. I thought it might be Amagi-yoshino or a hybrid of Oshima-zakura and Edo-higan. The one stands alone was Yama-zakura. There were one more unknown like Yama-zakura, one Yoko, one kanhi-zakura finished and one Kawazu-zakura finished. Garden looked beautiful when the evening came. I had a set of tea and sweet at the old-style house near the entrance.
I'm sorry but i can't report cherries in Japan from my computer at this moment. But you can see 2015 cherries in Japan from this site. Now it's a time for Tohoku. Tokyo Report on April 30 and on April 2 are here.
This year I failed to post cherry flowers blooming. Now it's time for fruits here. On May 30, I went to Koishikawa botanical garden and Shinjuku-gyoen to chesk fruits of cherries. Koishikawa Botanical Garden on May 30, 2015 (1) I didn't see any cherry fruits until I get to Cherry Forest, but the first Somei-yoshino there had good amount of fruits. But Choshu-hizakura have no fruits. Gun-zakura had good amount of fruits, too. Somei-yoshinos at the middle part had more fruits than the first one. Taihaku had only a few fruits. The Small yamazakura near the greenhouse had a lot of small fruits. I couldn't find any fruits of Ichiyos there.
My new bonsai Autumnalis has two unseasonable flowers now. They are small white and green flowers. My old one had flowers every month except May and June. New one didn't have unseasonable flowers before but now it settled down at my veranda. It also has second shootings which I have to cut. When I cut first shootings in May, I planted seven cuttings with just two half-cut leaves. Four of them are still alive but no buds yet. I'm thinking to make my new bonsai with them.
On March 20th, the Meteorological Agency declaired blooming of Somei-yoshino in Tokyo. But I haven't seen Somei -yoshino blooming yet . On March 17th I saw pink flowers from the train I comute and went to the bank of Edo River. Large condo complex made a cherry garden and there O-kan-zakuras were blooming. Kawazu-zakuras has already finished blooming and had green leaves. There are many kinds of cherries but only Somei-yoshinos have name plates.
In Tokyo, Somei-yoshinos became full bloom on March 31 and they finished with the spring storm on April 7. Now it's time for double cherries. But today, April 13, 2016, I flew to Hiroshima to see cherries at Hiroshima Mint. It is open to the public for a week to show cherries there. There are 218 cherry trees of 60 kinds. Their trees are not as old as Osaka Mint but it's not as crowded as Osaka Mint. So I could walk around and take pictures easily. Unfortunately it was cloudy when I arrived and it started raining later. But cherries were beautiful there. Omoigawa is a very beautiful cultivator.. Koka & Senriko Kotohira & Ko-fugenzo Fukurokuju &Gyoiko Imose & Omuro-ariake Sumaura-fugenzo
Cherries are very early this year!! Febraury 8,2017 I found some cherries were blooming on the riverbank of Kyu-Nakagawa-river from Sobu line train. Kyu-Nakagawa-river locates in the downtown of Tokyo between Kameido Station and Hirai Station. I didn’t notice that small park before and I visited there on February 8, 2017. They were Kawazu-zakuras. They usually blooms on February 20s but this year they blooms 2 weeks earlier than usual. There are about 28 Kawzu-zakuras there. Some cherries beside the public apartment building which were under repair were almost full bloom. Some not backing the building were less than half bloom. There was a map of cherry location which shows Kawazu-zakura a pink circle and O-kan-zakura a white circle. Last year Tokyo had a record-earliest snow fall on November 24, 2016. It affects cherries as breaking of dormancy so some people says cherries bloom very early this year. At this moment it is true. There were 2 O-kan-zakuras which had just started blooming. There are some cherries which looked like Somei-yoshino beside the river. They didn’t show any signs of spring yet.
Kan-zakura has finished already. On February 12, 2017, I visited Koishikawa Botanical garden first time this year and found Kan-zakura there was already over the peak bloom condition. Early Mumes were also beyond the peak bloom and I thought many avarage-blooming Mume has less flowers this year. Somei-yoshinos were still very quiet.
Cherry Forecast 2017 On February 16, three weather forecast companies updated there cherry forecasts this year. They say cherries open average time or only a little earlier in Tokyo. Forecasts of opening are March 22 to 24. They are different from our feeling. I wonder how it will be. I'll check other early blooming cherries. Forecast of Japan Weather Association
Mariko mentioned seeing 'Kawazu-zakura'. My cousin sent me a link to this article on these cherries in Kawazu town. Cherry Blossoms Have Just Bloomed In This Japanese Town, And The Photos Are Magical At the end is a map of the blossom date projections, though it's not clear if these are the 'Somei-yoshino' that are usually the ones for which the wave is projected.
Beautiful pictures!! Thank you, Wendy, for your posting. I have visited Kawazu a few times. (I posted one of my visits on March 3, 2011. Kawazu No.1, No.2, No3 That year they were full bloom then. ) But I didn't know illuminated trees reflected on the river so beautifully. Also I didn’t know we could see Mt. Fuji from Kawazu. We can see Mt. Fuji very well from west side of Izu Peninsula beyond the sea. But Kawazu locates on the eastside of the peninsula. I thought Mt. Fuji was behind the mountains of Izu Peninsula. I have to visit again in near future. By the way, I could upload my pictures of Kawazu-zakura on #160, Nakagawa River Bank on February 8,2017.
Ueno Park., February 22, 2017 (No.1) Yesterday I missed the train for going golf and dropped at Keisei Ueno Station to take a bus going back for the change. But because of construction in Ueno Park I couldn’t do short-cut. I missed the bus instead I found Oh-kanzakuras blooming in Ueno Park. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera and the clouds were coming so I took pictures using my cell phone. Two Oh-kanzakura trees at the south-east entrance were blooming. The one next to the police box was more half bloom. The other one was half bloom. There were 7 Oh-kanzakura were planted with other cherries after Kiyomizu Kannondo Temple. They were about 30% bloom. There were one Kawazu-zakura finishing, one Yama-zakura, one Kanzan and one Ichiyo with many Somei-yoshinos in winter figure. There’s a Kan-zakura near the stature of Komatsu-no-miya near the entrance of Ueno Zoo but because of construction I couldn’t take a good photo. Also there’s one by the Starbucks cafe. They were finished. There were 10 small Kanhi-zakuras beside the fountain area. They locate at the shadowy area so they were just started to bloom. Oh-kanzakura ((Cerasus x Kanzakura ‘Oh-kanzakura’ Ohwi) is an early blooming cherry. It is said to be a hybrid of Kanhi-zakura and Oshima-zakura and also called as Angyo-kanzakura because it was spread from Angyo, Saitama prefecture. There were 2 beautiful trees in Koishikawa botanical Garden before named Angyo-kanhi but they were fallen off by stormy wind and there’s any more. (p120 of “Gakken Book” and p109 of “Cherries of Japan, new version”) I have posted Oh-kanzakura many times. # 28, March 10,2010 as Angyo-kanhi, Koishikawa Botanical Garden #33, March 20, 2010, Shinjuku-Ghoen Park #70, March 19, 2011, Koishikawa Botanical Garden
Ueno Park, February 22, 2017 (No.2 Ueno Toshogu Peony Garden 1) After I checked early blooming cherries there, I still had time. There are 2 museums, 4 art Galleries, concert halls, restaurants, temples and a zoo in Ueno Park, but I decided to go to Ueno Toshogu Peony Garden. I saw a sign which said it opened for winter peonies from January 26 to February 26. I had been to Toshogu Shrine but I hadn’t seen the garden. It locates near the zoo. When I visited Toshogu long ago it was a very old building of weathered wood color which had a good taste. But now it was painted gold and shining. The peony garden was worth visiting. Wintertime peonies were so marvelous and display was so wonderful. There were Mume trees blooming and one Kawazu-zakura there. We could see five-story pagoda with them. The garden was made in 1980 for china-Japan relationship. Peony is a Chinese origin flower. But it has been very popular and cultivated widely in Japan since Edo period. It has been known as “King of the hundreds flowers”
Super pics.as always!..yes the Peony is still thought of as the national flower by many in China though Mao zedong decided it should be the Mume.Anyway both,as in Japan are highly regarded as you know. Not aware of peonies being artificially brought into bloom in China but I did visit a peony garden in Beijing...beautiful flowers,just wish they lasted longer. Recently bought a couple of Mumes,annoyingly there's only 2 cultivars available here in UK..both Japanese. Look forward to more of your lovely pics.as the season progresses :)
Ueno Park, February 22, 2017 (No.3 Ueno Toshogu Peony Garden 2) Thank you, Houzi. You have been to China!! I haven’t yet though it’s two hours flight only. I also liked peonies very much. Peony also have many cultivars. So I’d like to post pictures of peony flowers. Pictures of brochure by my cell phone “Wintertime Peony blossom Festival” (from the brochure) " Visitors can see the two kinds of peonies from New Year’s Day to Mid-February. They are the “wintertime peony” and the “winter-flowering peony” Some of Peonies have a feature of blooming not only in spring but also in early winter. Winter-flowering peony opens naturally at low temperature in winter. But it is very difficult to cultivate because this peony is affected by climate deeply. The probability of flowering is only 20% or less. On the other hand, the wintertime peony is cultivated using a special technique to bloom in winter season. It is inhibited blooming in cold area in spring and summer and carefully regulated temperature in autumn. With few flowers in winter, the wintertime peony is prepared over two full years to add beauty to the New Year’s celebration as a symbol of good fortune. Its elegant appearance under a straw enclosure captivates and delights visitors enormously." Yachiyo-tsubaki Renhaku & Shimadaijin Oukan Shimano-fuji Shima-nishiki Not sure
Dear Houzi, I’m sorry I hadn’t seen your picture when I wrote last one, #164 . I haven’t seen so many peonies blooming in one place wildly. Beautiful!! In Japan peonies are taken care one by one. They are planted differently. I searched web pictures like that. But I couldn’t find. But I found beautiful pictures of Peonies in Japanese Gardens. Yuushien Garden, Daikonjima Island, Shimane Official website in English One Brogue with beautiful pictures Hasedera Temple, Nara Official website in Google translation Official website in English
February 22, 2017 Hakusan Shrine On February 22, 2017, I walked through Hakusan Shrine on my way back from Ueno Park. Several kinds of Mume were blooming there. One Kawazu-zakura was just beyond peak bloom.
....and I haven't been to Japan yet.Guess we've both still got some travelling to do. Thanks for sharing the beautiful peony pics.I've never heard of the winter flowering ones before.The temple garden looks splendid,thanks for the links,I'll peruse them more deeply later.I believe in China the tree peonies are actually more highly regarded than the herbaceous. Well I best not tie up this thread talking of peonies too much he he but just read about the Itohs....could be worth looking at if the flowers really do last longer. On the subject of blossoms,are the peach blossoms highly regarded in Japan as in China?..often used as new year decorations.
Somei-yoshino became full bloom around my place on April 6, 2017. Today, April 6, 2017, Somei-yoshinos at Koishikawa Botanical Garden became full bloom. April 2, 2017, the Japan Meteorological Agency declared Somei-yoshino became full bloom in Tokyo. They declared the blooming of Somei-yoshino on March 21. Usually it takes about 7 days to be full bloom all over Tokyo. But this year it took 12 days. It is a very unusual cherry season this year. That day the standard cherry tree at Yasukuni shrine became full bloom. But cherries at Chidori-ga-fuchi Moat were just started to bloom. It locates just the other side of the road from Yasukuni Shrine but by the water. The cherry tree in front of my window was still 20 % bloom. This is the strange year. We had very very warm February. The highest temperature went beyond 20 degrees twice in February. I think that is a record. Early cherries started blooming rather early. But March started with 2 weeks of winter coldness. Then we had one a little warm week. Somei-yoshinos at Yasukuni Shrine Started but not all the place in Tokyo. And the climate started to be warm again from April 3. From yesterday the climate became very warm and the temperature went beyond 20 degrees. But now the weather is changing and the weather forecast said we would have warm rain with hard wind tonight. Unfortunately we might not be able to enjoy Somei-yoshino long. April 2,2017 Hakusn Koishikawa Botanical Garden Shakujii River on April 3,2017 April 6, 2017 Hakusan Koishikawa Botanical Garden
Rikugien Garden on April 4, 2017 I had an o-hanami excursion with my friends on April 4. We went to Rikugien Garden in the morning and Koishikawa Botanical Garden in the afternoon. It was a perfect day for hanami. The Shidare-zakura of 400 years old which I posted illuminated one #41, the illuminated one on March 31, 2010 was about 70 % bloom but very beautiful with blue sky. It was record slow bloom this year. They scheduled Illumination between March 16 and April 2. But it hadn’t become full bloom that day. Also it wasn’t a good year for Shidare-zakura. It didn’t have flowers nor buds at the top part. It’s not as gorgeous as usual year. I visited there on March 31. At that time only down half was blooming. The other Shidare-zakura at the opposite corner of the Garden is about 100 years old and very tall and rather narrow tree. It was almost full bloom.
Somei—yoshino starts blooming very early. On the afternoon of March 17, 2018 the Meteorological Agency announced the blooming of the standard tree in Tokyo. It was 4 days earlier than last year and 9 days earlier than average blooming date. It said soei-yoshinos would be full bloom on March 24 or 25, this weekend. Yesterday, March 21, TV showed Somei-yoshinos at Chidorigafuchi Moat were 30 % bloom. We had a very cold winter this year. In November we had snow in Tokyo after 48 years. We had some warm days in December it started Kan-zakura blooming in November. But very severe coldness came in the middle of January. Lowest temperature went down below zero more than two weeks. We had 23cm of snowfall and that stayed more than 2 weeks. But March brought sudden warm change and it made Somei-yoshino start blooming very early. On March 17, I visited Koishikawa Botanical Garden but no Somei-yoshinos blooming there. Today, March 22, I visited there. Somei-yoshinos were started blooming but not so much. Small Beni-shidare was blooming beautifully.
Thanks, Mariko! You folks get to call that 'Beni-shidare' small? I had to laugh. I know, you have larger ones.