Oh Me, Oh My, Ume: A Plum Blossom Sighting

Plum trees (ume) normally bloom from late February until mid-March here but we spotted a few early blossoms on two trees on the grounds of Kamakura-gu Saturday.

On Sunday reports of snow drifted in, first from Nara and then Tokyo.  Does this spell bad news for the ume?  We'll find out next month when the Explorers visit Kairakuen Garden in Mito, one of the top three landscape gardens in Japan.

We hope to see all three gardens this year before Artistic and Weather depart Japan.  We can get to Mito and back in a single day but seeing the other gardens will be overnight trips.  Am I excited?  You bet.