Next wave of Spring flowers

 Japan is in bloom! It starts out small in early March, with a few cherry blossoms and plum blossoms. They are very pretty, and you think, "Wow, this is nice!". Then one day - they all POP - just like the Primary song. And it's AMAZING. (see previous blog post, I could go on and on about the Sakura Season).

But just as the last Cherry blossoms fall and you think, "Oh darn, it's over" a whole new batch of blooming begins. This year I made it to the Ashikaga Flower Park to see the Wisteria in full bloom. We went on a day that was near the peak of the bloom. It was a bit crowed (even though it was weekday) but that was half of the fun. Seeing everyone "ooh and ahh" and eat flower themed foods was entertaining too!

Pictures just can't capture the full look and feel, but here are some to give you an idea of what it was like.


 




I asked Kimball if we could just try to make a box and grow a small wisteria like this one. I'm sure it can't be that hard to prune them and make them look like this!









































I thought I would be finished with azalea pics, but then I heard about a beautiful Buddhist temple in Ome, Shiofune-Kannonji (situated on a hillside) with tons of azaleas all down the valley. We took a Sunday drive to check it out. The azaleas were very pretty but they were not all blooming at once. Some had already hit their peak and others hadn't quite started. But it is just so pretty in this small valley. 

I actually did ring the giant gong. It vibrated for a couple of minutes after I hit it!
























 



After the Temple we went to see the Ome Railroad Park located nearby.





 

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