Nature note - a Little hanami in neighbourhood

Spring in Japan comes quite sudden. From chilly and gloomy grey winter, the season suddenly changes with many flowers blooming day by day. I have been mostly living in Kanagawa Japan and been through the change of season many times, but the sign of spring time is always delights to my eyes. During COVID-19 season, it was nice to see these flowers, to keep your attention away from the depressing news for a while.

First flower which brings spring to my neighbourhood is Ume blossoms (Prunus mume, type of apricot) on trees. 

The blossoms are fragrant, with sweet and fresh that you can notice while walking pass a tree. The blossoms are mostly white and pink. The fruit of Prunus mume is edible, mostly salted to make Umeboshi or cooked with sugar for jam.

The second flower that shows up in my neighbourhood is narcissus. They grow in tine woods underneath the trees. We grow yellow narcissus at home as well. They do tell a change of season, telling that the cold weather will soon be over.

Another flower that I noticed this year was Camellia sasanqua. The flower normally blooms around November to early spring, but somehow my neighbour’s tree bear deep pink flowers around February.

Another flower which tells the sign of season is winter daphn. It grows in tiny shrub, and the flower are very fragrant, sweet and incense-like smell that spreads like perfume. It could be a nice choice if you take a bunch of this flower to your home.