Sakura season, 2024 (Part 2)

～Sakura from prime blooming to farewell～

April 10th

- 茶山園地 Chayama-enchi, Nara Park -

Chayama-enchi, a small hilly woods hidden at the foot of 若草山 Mount Wakakusa, 

is abundant of double-flowered 奈良の九重桜 Nara-no-kokonoe-zakura,

which is endemic to Nara.

This is a quiet place.

I love to see Deer eating Sakura petals or resting peacefully on the Sakura carpet.

Sakura petals are spring delicacy of deer.

A Sakura petal in his mouth

While Sakura blossoms usually have 5 sepals, this variety has uniquely as many as 10 sepals.

It's a shame that Nara-no-kokonoe-zakura rarely get noticed in spite of its beauty and rarity.

Probably because their blossoming time falls on the Somei-yoshino's all around.

 

After keeping low position to take photos of deer for a while, it's so refreshing to look up.

 

 - 佐保川 Saho River -

This is the second time I walked along the river during this Sakura season.

Pathway along the river

Is it snowing?

No, constnatly falling petals of Sakura blossoms.

April 13th

 Departing one after another in the breeze; this is the gentle farewell of Sakura.

Petals in the shimmering pink water.

It's still beautiful even though the trees have less blossoms.

Green leaves replace flowers once the petals fall.

Season is changing into the new leaves of soft to bright green hues.

A bird took off to the next stop.

 - 若草山 Mt. Wakakusa -

The grassy 若草山 Mount Wakakusa, 342 meters high, is a nice place 

to enjoy the panoramic views of Nara City and as far as Kyoto and Osaka.

The summit is easily accessible as I wrote in Let's climb Mount Wakakusa!

April 14th

Relaxing deer under Sakura blossoms at  the summit.

Less blossoms on branches, more petals in the air and on the ground.

Sakura season is already over in Nara  and the Sakura front has moved far to the northern Japan.

Academic year starts in April in Japan.

My youngest grandchild M entered Elementary School when Sakura was in full bloom.

Pupils walked to and from the school under the canopy of blossoms along the school road.

Performance of rythmic gymnastics

Why do cherry blossoms bloom at a certain time?  

The science behind Japan’s cherry blossoms explains the "importance of winter."

1. After the flowers fall off, the tree makes new buds in summer.
2. The buds get into sleep in fall.
3. Chill air of winter wake them up to make themselves swell gradually
4. When spring comes and it gets warmer, the buds bloom.

Warm weather (above 15 degrees C) of March makes the buds open.  So, I had thought that  the cold weather of this March delayed the blooming about one week later than usual. That's right partly, but there is more significant reason.

Warm weather alone won't make the flowers bloom. They need  enough cold spell of weather  in winter to wake up in the spring.  In January and February of this year, the winter cold was often interrupted by spring-like or even early-summer-like warmth.  If our winter becomes more and more warm due to the climate change, I wonder what would become of Sakura blossoming in the southern part of Japan.

Linked to Saturday's Critters

Mosaic Monday