Okame-zakura Blooming in Nihonbashi on March 11, 2010. My friend e-mailed me a picture of Okame-zakura blooming near her husband’s office on March 5. But the weather wasn’t good so I couldn’t visit there till March 11. It was a day suddenly spring had come. About 20 Okame-zakura were blooming at the back street in Nihonbashi, near Mitsukoshimae Subway Station. It is a shops and offices area near Tokyo Station where only buildings, roads and highway bridges are there. But there came white eyes. They were so quick. Sometimes 7 or 8 white-eyes came together and flew out. I was so surprised that even such a center part of Tokyo birds were living. Shop keepers near-by said those cherries were planted only 2, 3 years ago. Their shapes suite for narrow street in the center part of Tokyo. They were very beautiful. I hadn’t seen Okame in full bloom in Vancouver and thought they were rather plain cherries. But they are not. Now I wonder why Ingram named it Okame. On the same day, I visited Koichikawa Botanical Garden, too. There were 2 Soshun-zakura, Hybrid of Mame-zakura, there. Both had same name plates which said Soshun-zakura, Prunus incise thumb. ex. Murray cv. Sohunzakura. But 2 trees look very different. One tree is a small umbrella-like shape tree of about 2.5 meter. It had flowers very resemble to Okame in Nihonbashi. Another one is a fastigiate tree about 4 meter. It has very small flowers of narrow petals. I haven’t seen or heard about Soshun-zakura. I wonder what it is. I checked Web but couldn’t find anything about it.
Looks like 'Okame' has a dieback problem there, too. Here, some plantings are so afflicted as to be positively horrid. The next two look similar, as though also having Prunus campanulata parentage. There is an English cultivar 'Shosar' that is derived from (P. incisa x P. campanulata) x P. sargentii. http://www.keele.ac.uk/university/nathist/trees/cherries/prunus shosar.htm
Ron, I don't think Okames in Nihonbashi have dieback problem yet. On March 11, Kanhi-zakura was full bloom in Koishikawa Botanical Garden. There was Angyo-kanhi (Prunus lannesiana cv. Angyokanhi) full bloom, too. It was grown-up tree of beautiful pale pink flowers. A lot of white-eyes and a few bulbuls came to the tree. This was my first time to see or hear this cherry. I checked the web and find Mitsuzouin temple in Angyo, Saitama Prefecture, have 10 Angyo-kanhi-zakura. You can see the pictures from the translated page. (As usual translation is terrible.) Until March 10, Tokyo had a very cold weather, but from next day weather suddenly changed and spring had come!! Temperature went up to 21 degrees one day. Forecast said warm weather would continue at least one more week. Somei-yoshino in Tokyo started to prepare blooming. Cherry forecast said Blooming of Somei-yoshino would be March 24. But now it might be earlier. My husband said it would start blooming next weekend. (March 20 &21)
I can see dead twigs and canopy gaps in the street tree shown, which is what prompted the comment. Not nearly as bad as some 'Okame' here, of course, which are the most conspicuously blighted Japanese flowering cherries I know of in this area. Many 'Autumnalis Rosea' encountered here have also recently developed a condition that causes most of the crown to go bare. Presumably complete death of these sorry specimens is on the horizon. On the other hand, an 'Autumnalis Rosea' I am growing on Camano Island was terrific this month, absolutely packed with flowers.
On March 18, 2010, TV News said the first Somei-yoshino in Tokyo Area started to bloom in Hibiya Park. They said other Somei-yoshinos would start blooming until March 24. On March 17, I found 2 unknown cherries near my place. One is a tree in the Elementary School Garden. Most of the cherries in the parks and schools have name plate. But I can’t go in, so I can’t see it. Flowers are too high and mostly inside the net, so I couldn’t see by my eyes. But my good digital camera enlarged for me. They looked like Hybrid (?)of Karami-zakura. Another one was a young, small tree on Hakusan Road. It didn’t have many flowers. They were smaller and darker pink than Somei-yoshino. I noticed the calyx is ulceolate, one part is narrower, I think some connection to Edo-higan. (Unfortunately I haven’t seen Edo-higan yet.) . Buds of Somei-yoshino at the school were growing.
Thank you for the reply. For the same reason, I'm guessing that they may like Ginkgo trees, since the leaves often fall off together in a short span of time. : )
This morning I read a small article which said; (In old days) people thought the gods (spirits) of rice dwell on Cherry trees. So before spring farmwork started, people got together, ate and drank with gods under the cherry trees to pray for a good harvest. Japanese are rice-growing people. So those are the origin of Hanami (cherry-viewing) party. I don’t like Hanami Parties very much. They are noisy (nowadays some people sing with their own microphone and loudspeakers) and drunken people under the cherry trees are not nice. But if Hanami has historical meaning, I think it all right.
March 20, 2010 Shinjuku Gyoen Park No.2 Ohkan-zakura (Cerasus x Kanzakura ‘Oh-kanzakura’ Ohwi) was blooming, too. (p120 of Gakken Book) There were Kohigan (Cerasus x subhirtella ‘Kohigan’ Koidz). It is thought to be a hybrid of Mame-zakura and Edo-higan. It is rather a small tree, less than 5 meters. (P110 of Gakken Book) There was Takato-kohigan (Cerasus ×subhirtella ‘Takato-kohigan’), too. Flowers looks similar but Takato-kohiban is bigger than Kohigan. Koshino-higan (Cerasus x subhirtella ‘Koshiensis’ Koidzumi) was there. It is a hybrid of Kinki-mame-zakura and Edo-higan. (p112 of Gakken Book) Yokohama-hizakura (Cerasus x Kanzakura ‘Yokohama-hizakura’ JPPRB 777) was there.(P201 of Gakken Book) Kanhi-zakura (Cerasus campanulata (Maxim.) Masam.& S.Suzuki) was there. (p60 of Gakken Book) Himaraya-hizakura (Cerasus carmesina (Hara) Tritsv.& Matiyan) was there, too. (p62 Gakken Book) Both look similar but Kanhi-zakura came from warm place like Toiwan, southern part of China and Okinawa Islands of Japan. So It is not tolerant to cold weather. Himaraya-hizakura came from Neparl.
On March 20, 2010, my husband visited Shinjuku Gyoen Park and took photos of 11 kinds cherries blooming there. (Unfortunately I tore a quarter of my Achilles’ tendon and I can’t walk around now!!) 2 Shidare-zakura (Cerasus spachiana ‘Itozakura’ Siebold) are very gorgeous now. They are weeping Edo-higan and also called as Ito-zakura (Threads cherry). They can live very long (400, 500 years). First and second Pictures are the same tree from different direction. (p114 of Gakken Book) Oshima-zakura has just started blooming. It is a very big tree. Tree shape is completely different from Oshima in Vancouver because it wasn’t grafted. Oshima can live long. (p34 of Gakken Book) Yama-zakura was blooming a little. Tree shape photo image is the same as my image of Yama-zakura. You can’t see flowers well because flowers are high up. But my good digital camera which can enlarge 150 times showed flowers. (p30 of Gakken Book) There were a lot of Yokos blooming. Yoko (Cerasus Yoko) is a hybrid of Kanhi-zakura and Amagi-yoshino. It has a lot of big flowers of bright pink so it is getting very popular in Japan now. (P202 of Gakken Book) March 20,2010 Shinjuku Gyoen Park No.1
On March 21, my husband went to Kokyo, Imperial Palace. The emperor lives there, but there’s no real palace or castle. Only rather row modern buildings in side. Inner areas are closed to public but we can walk freely outside gardens. But the gates and the moat remind you old Samurai era. There are a lot of cherries around the moat (Chidoriga-fuchi). It was a bit too early. Somei-yoshinos are not open yet, but there are Yama-zakura and other cherries blooming now. There are lots of Yama-zakuras. Some are started to bloom. Yama-zakura varies a lot. Some bloom before Somei-yoshino, some bloom together and some bloom after Somei-yoshino. And tree shape varies a lot. Somei-yoshino, Akebono and some garden cherries were multiplied from one single tree and have same genotype. So they bloom together. But Yama-zakuras are from seeding. So they have different characters There are Yokos, too. Yoko has bright color and narrow shape, also it won’t be very big. So it suites narrow roads of Japan. It is a hybrid of Amagi-yoshino and Kanhi-zakura. Shidare-zakuras have just started blooming. Koshino-higan also just started. Kohigan-zakura was in full bloom. There are many Amagi-yoshinos, too. Amagi-yoshino is a hybrid of Edo-higan and Oshima by Yo Takenaka when he tried to make Somei-Yoshino. Syuzenji-kanzakuras (Cerasus x Kanzakura ‘Rubescens’ Sugimoto) are finished and leaves were green. (p122 of Gakken Book) Kanhi-zakura was finishing
Yesterday, March 22, the Meteorological Agency of Japan declared the blooming of Somei-yoshino in Tokyo and Yokohama. It was 6 days earlier than average year and 1day later than last year. They will be in full bloom after 1 week. (Cherry Blossom Report 2010) Last year after Somei-yoshino started blooming, the cold weather came and they last more than 2 weeks. I hope blooming time be long this year, too. I stayed at home all day yesterday. But I noticed blooming. There are Somei-yoshinos in front of my window. When I saw outside after lunch I noticed one white thing on the twig. At that time I thought a trash sticked there by the hard wind. But when I saw the tree again around 3 o’clock I could see several flowers were blooming. Unfortunately my husband went out with my good camera, I couldn’t take good photos. I took pictures around my condo today. (March 23,2010)
March 22, 2010, Cherries in Tokyo No.2Koishikawa Botanical Garden There is a hybrid tree of Yama-zakura, Prunus Jamasakura Sieb. ex Koids cv Nitida, near the entrance of the Garden. It has a name plate. But I don’t know how to read those 2 Chinese Characters. It might be Gun-zakura or Kohri-zakura or other. It looks like Yama-zakura from afar but it might have extra petals. Also color of the sepals and calyxes are green with brown leaves. Kanzaki-ohshima, Prunus speciosa (Koids) Nakai cv Kanzakiohshima, was green. Kanzaki means early blooming. I was waiting to see the flowers of it for weeks. My husband said it had already finished and leaves came. But I’m not sure. It night bloom after leaves came out. Amagi-yoshino, Prunus x yodoensis Matsum cv Amagiyoshinia, was there, too. But it is a miserable shape tree. Soshun-zakura, a hybrid of Mame-zakura was finishing now. There are Japanese Rhododendrons (Rhododendron dilatatum Mia var Satumense Yamazaki)blooming. Rikugien Garden Rikugien Garden is a famous Japanese Style garden made a little before Asuka-yama Park. There are only several cherries. But the garden is famous for Sidare-zakuras. But it was too early. Just a few flowers open. There was one tall cherry blooming. It looks like Ohkan-zakura.
March 22, 2010 was a fine, warm day (Long weekend). My husband went to Asuka-yama Park, Furukawa Garden, Koishikawa Botanical Garden and Rikugien Garden to take photos of cherries. Meteorology Agency of Japan declared the blooming of Somei-yoshino in Tokyo that day but he wasn’t aware of it. (No Somei-yoshino was Blooming yet in these parks) Asuka-yama Park Asuka-yama Park was known as Hanami destination even in Edo Period. The park was made for public to enjoy cherries during the reign of Yoshimune Tokugawa (1716 to 1745). The Gide book says there are about 650 cherries. Most of them are Somei-yoshino but there are Gyoiko, Fukurokuju and other double cherries. Ezo-yama-zakura was just started blooming. Ezo-yama-zakura is also called as O-yama-zakura. So this is a Sargentti in Tokyo. It doesn’t have brown leaves so it looks different from Sargentii but it has a name plate which says this tree was presented from a city in Hokkaido (North Island of Japan) where most of wild cherries are Sargentii. You can see the pictures of Sargentii at the site of Sin-hidaka City. I think the climate of Tokyo is different from Hokkaido so it blooms differently. There are 2 Yama-zakuras blooming with leaves. But one have a name plate of Somei-yoshino. There was a small Takato-kohigan-zakura Blooming. Kanhi-zakura was finishing. Asuka-yama Park doesn’t place name plates for all the cherries so there are some unknowns.This tree looks like Yoko. This one looks like Yoko, too but it might to be to big as yoko. There is one more unknown. Furukawa Garden Furukawa garden is famous for roses not for herries. There was only one Shidare-zakura blooming there. It is a weeping Edo-higan. It looks defferent due to the directions you see.
posted on March 29,2010 We are having wintry weather again since Somei-yoshino started blooming in Tokyo on March 22, 2010 . The highest temperature of March 25 was only 6.5 degree. So they haven’t been in full bloom yet (50%). It’s a cold day today (March 29). Highest will be around 8degrees. The weather forecast says it’ll change from this Wednesday. But other cherries started blooming now. I visited Koisikawa Botanical Garden on March 27, 2010. It was only 1 fine day after Somei-yoshinos started. Somei-yoshino were still 10 % blooming. Amagi-yoshino, Izu-yoshino and Mikado-yoshino were blooming there. They are the cherries Yo Takenaka made during his experiment of origin of Somei-yoshino. They are hybrids between Ohshima and Edo-higan. (He couldn't make Somei-yoshino. Now Somei-yosino is thought to be a hybrid between a hybrid of Edo-higan and Ohshima. But no one remade Somei-yoshino yet.) Amagi-yoshino was in full bloom. Izu-yoshino (Prunus yedoensis Matsum. cv Izuyoshino) started blooming. It has large white flowers. Mikado-yoshino (Prunus yedoensis Matsum. cv Mikadoyoshino) has flowers which are just a bit pinkish than Izu-yoshino. Oshima-zakuras were blooming. Kanzaki-ohsima finished completely. There are Yama-zakuras there. 3 of them are in a row. One was almost in full bloom. But others are not yet. There was a large tree which has a name plate of Hoshi-zakura. Hoshi means star in Japanese. But nowadays very rare wild cherries found in Tama-kyuryo (hill country between Tokyo prefecture and Kanagawa prefecture) in 2004 were called as Hoshi-zakura in news. They are hybrid of Mame-zakura and Edo-higan and must be small trees. So this can’t be the same cultivar. Parhaps this Hoshi-zakura is older as a tree name but less popular. I’m interested in which would be registered under the name. Hata-zakura (Prunus pusilliflore Card)there was cut down but new branches are come out and had flowers. It has large white flowers whish often have extre petals like flags. (Hata means flag in Japanese) There is a Shidare-zakura there. It was inside the roped area. I couldn't go near and see in details. But it looked like Beni-shidare. There was a tree which has a small name plate written Prunus pussilliflore Card from China. But I can’t find any information about it.
My small cherry is blooming now! I bought it for 10 dollar from a co-op catalogue last November. It came in a tall box. But it was just 10 cm. I planted it in a small pot bought at a dollar shop. It is one-year tree of Asahiyama. Asahiyama is a small cherry tree which can grow less than 2 meter. So it is used for Bonsai. (page 143 of Gakken book, Page 58 of the handbook of Flowering Cherries in Japan) After blooming I brought it inside, then more flowers opend in a few hours. Now I keep it outside again. March 28, 2010. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::March 27,2010 On March 27, I went to the Japanese restaurant for dinner with friends. There was a flower decoration using cherries.
On March, 31, 2010, I went to Rikugien Garden to see Cherry Light-up. It was so crowded. There was a cue to buy tickets. Rikugien is famous for Shidare-zakuras. There is one big Shidare-zakura (Edo-higan) there near the entrance. It was very beautiful from every direction. But I couldn’t take a good photo from the front because of a crowd. To my disappointment, they didn’t open whole garden for Light up. The information said there were about 50 cherries. But I could see a few.
Thursday, April 1, 2010 was a very fine warm day. I went to Shinjuku Gyoen Park to check cherries. It was very windy but a lot of people came to the park for Hanmami (cherry-viewing). Somei-yoshinos were almost in full bloom. I feel Somei-yoshinos in Japan are bigger than Vancouver ones. And Flowers are very white when they became full bloom. Also calyx is a vase shape. Autumnalis was having spring flowers now. Flowers might be just a bit bigger than Autumn flowers. There was 1 Akebono standing on the left of Yoko near the entrance. Akebono is called ‘America’ in Japan. It wasn’t in full bloom yet but flowers were so cute. Yoko has darker pink flowers and was finishing. There was 1 Ohshima standing near a bigger Yoko tree. 2 small Yokohama-hizakura (Cerasus × kanzakura ‘Yokohama-hizakura’,p201 of Gakken) were blooming. Yokohama is a name of the place the first port built after long seclusion of Edo period. Hizakura means red cherry blossom. Flowers of Yoko and Yokohama-hizakura look similar but Yokohama-hizakura have a very long pistil. Takato-kohigan was finishing. It has a rather small white flowers like Kohigan but it can be a very big tree, (kohigan is a rather small tree less than 5 meter.) One small Edo-higan (Cerasus spachiana f. ascendens (Makiko) H Ohba, page 52 of Gakken book, p24 of handbook of Flowering~) is in peak bloom. Higan means the equinoctial week. So Higan-zakuras (ex. Kohigan, Takato-kohigan etc.) bloom around spring equinoctial week. It means earlier than Somei-yoshino. This year in Tokyo, Somei-yoshino bloomed 1 week earlier than average years. So they bloomed together. Edo-higan is one of wild cherries widely found in Japan except Hokkaido (North Island) Okinawa (South Islands). It can live very long and can be very big (more than 20 meters high). The oldest Edo-higan in Japan said to be 1800 years old. Urceolate Calyxes are characteristic for Edo-higan and hybrids of Edo-higan. The park is maintained very nicely and most of trees have name plates. But there were 2 unknown trees. One has single pale pink flowers with green leaves and the other has double pale pink flowers with greenish brown leaves. They were just started to bloom. Kawazu-zakura and Kan-zakura which had flowers in February have small cherries now. Kawazu-zakura Kan-zakura
Somei-yoshino in Tokyo became full bloom on April 1, 2010 and it continued until April 6.My husband took photos of Somei-yoshinos at Chidori-ga-futi Moat beside the Imperial Palace on April 3 &4. I visited there on March 31 before full bloom. It was a cloudy day. But Scenery with cherries was very beautiful It was different from the scene of fine day. We did boating. Scene from the boat was good but not as wonderful as we expected.
On Saturday, April 3, 2010, I visited the Koishikawa Botanical Garden. It was a really nice day and many people were having picnic lunch there. Somei-yoshinos were in full bloom. 1 very large Taihaku tree was just started blooming. Sotorihime, Somei-nioi and Showa-zakura were started to bloom. They were selected from the seedlings of Somei-yoshino in Ohshima Park, Ohshima Island where a lot of wild Ohshima-zakura grow. Sotori-hime (Prunus x Yedoensis Matsum. cv Sotorihime) is a name of very beautiful Goddess in Japanese Myth. It had very beautiful flowers. But the tree itself is in miserable condition. The tree reminded me an aged and crippled goddess of beauty. Somei-nioi (Prunus x Yedoensis Matsum. cv Someinioi) Showa-zakura (Prunus x Yedoensis Matsum. cv Showazakura) Yamakoshi (Prunus x Yedoensis Matsum. cv Yamakoshi) I couldn’t find anything about Yamakoshi. But it might also be made from seedlings of Somei-yoshino. There are some unknown cherries blooming beautifully. (might be some kinds of Yama-zakura and Ohshima)
We went to Hama-rikyu Park to see light-ups on April 5,2010. Linda Poole, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Director, visited Japan with her husband and friends and stayed in Tokyo at that time. So we arranged to meet there. Light-ups of Hama-rikyu Park was a bit different from one at Rikugien Park. Cherries are rather small and located separately in the wide area. Lights are not very bright but the scenery had subtle and profound atmosphere. Linda said they were like the pictures of the impressionists. There are hand-painted lanterns. We enjoyed Hama-Rikyu.
On April 6, I went to Ueno Park. Cherries were in full bloom. There are about 1000 cherry trees and most of them are Somei-yoshino. First I walked around the Sinobazu Pond. The pond was divided into 2 parts by a narrow bank with a path which has a tunnel of Somei-yoshino. There are a few Yama-zakura there and 1 Ohshima near 2 red Beni-yutaka. I saw Beni-yutaka for the first time. It is a very bright and beautiful cherry tree. There were a few Eigenji. There is 1 Shirotae. Sirotae looked very familiar to me! Except my feeling I couldn’t see so much difference from Eigenji there. But the young leaves of Eigenji are brownish green and pedicels are longer than Sirotae. Then I walked to the temple. Before temple there was another tunnel of Somei-yoshino. In the temple there were some Yae-beni-shidare blooming. All Yae-beni-shidare I saw in Japan have some dieback problems. There was a beautiful unknown cherry there. Ueno Parks are very crowded with people. Many group of people were preparing for Hanami Party in the evening. I saw some birds there, too.
April 8, 2010, Koganei Park No2 There are a lot of Yama-zakuras of different characters. Somei-yoshinos were just started falling off. Petals floating in the wind were very pretty. There are some Shirayuki. Shira means white like shiro and Yuki means snow in Japanese. It has single white petals. Edo was just started to bloom. There are a lot of young Ariakes plant recently. (Just 1 tree has a name plate and some blooms with leaves and some without leaves. But I think they are the same.) There is 1 Sendai-shidare. I thought it is the same as Wendy’s umbrella tree. There was 1 beautiful unknown tree. There are a lot of Yae-beni-shidares and some Beni-shidares. There was Ichiyo just start blooming and a beautiful large Sirotae.
April 8,2010 Koganei Park No.1On April 8, 2010, I visited the Koganei Park. It really was a park for cherry lovers!! (and family with small children). It locates in the suburb of Tokyo. It is a park of 79 hectare (196 acre) and there are more than 1700 cherry trees of about 50 cultivars. The Park is famous for wild cherries likeYama-zakura, Ohshima-zakura and Kasumi-zakura. (Unfort unately I couldn't find any tree which has a plate of Kasumi-zakura!) It is too big to walk around but you can rent a bicycle and ride around! There is a map of the cherry which tells you where you can see the cultivars. It was made by Cherry Keepers. I think Cherry Keepers are the volunteer group like Cherry Scouts. The difference is they are taking care of the cherries like gardeners and not very keen about identification. The most splendid cherry of the day was a large Ohshima. I noticed it from far because there are many people around it. At first I thought it was two large trees standing side by side. But it was 1 large tree of 20 meter wide and 13 metre high. The plate said the trunk was 3.66 meter in circumference. But what surprised me the most was the strong fragrance. You’ll notice very sweet floral fragrance before you got close to the tree. The fragrance filled the air! There are lots of Ohshima in the park but it was the only tree which had strong fragrance in broad daytime!
It’s already May 5, 2010 today. I’m sorry but I became so much behind the date. I haven’t posted many cherries I saw yet. But now almost all the cherries in Tokyo finished now. Yesterday I went Koishikawa Botanical Garden. Even Fugenzo (another name of Shirofugen?!) have finished. Now it's time for wisteria and azaleas. Spring weather in Japan was not very good this year. Usually after cherry starts blooming we have just a few cold days and a lot of warm fine days. So people are waiting cherry season. This year we had very bad April. Farmers suffered low temperature and shortage of sunshine. But we had very long cherry blossom season. I went to Nikko on April 26 and saw some early blooming cherries still blooming! But from April 29, weather had changed and now we have very fine, warm days. Temperature went over 20 degrees every day and it went up 27 degrees today. Now it is like summer in Vancouver or hotter than average summer days in Vancouver. Now cherries are blooming in Tohoku Region (north part of Main Island) and they haven’t started blooming in Hokkaido (North Island) yet. I couldn’t post up to date postings of cherries in and around Tokyo, but I’ll continue to post what I saw as much as I can even out of cherry season.
A great set of photos and it's going to take some time to appreciated them fully, what an undertaking thanks. The shots of the Somei-yoshino cherries in Tokyo at the Imperial Palace are magnificent , what a beautiful planting in a wonderful setting.