Sunday 20th March Spring in Shinjuku Gyeon National Garden

At sunrise the wind was howling with the odd sprinkle of rain but by mid morning the sun was out so taking advantage I wanted to see how far the cherry blossom had progressed in Shinjuku Gyeon National Garden.
The previous blossom was long gone but new swollen buds just waiting for that extra warmth to burst open. Some couldn’t wait so of course I had to include the odd photo

To my delight I discovered a couple more different plants along with small field flowers making a show

Stachyurus praecox a spreading shrub that needs very little care has amazing autumn coloured leaves and the flowers are pendulous spikes, which are up to 10cm long, before its leaves appear. The name is derived from several words staxus ‘ear of grain, prae meaning before and coxi meaning early ripening. I saw a huge tree so no need to visit Kew Gardens to view it.

My other discover today was the Mitsumata Tsumata, member of the Daphne family. This material was used 400-500 years ago in papermaking and is still used in washi paper. Another interesting snippet is the Japanese Government Finance Department buys a certain amount for manufacturing Japanese paper money.