"After women, flowers are the most lovely thing God has given the world."
-Christian Dior
Have you ever dreamed of walking into a field with lots of beautiful flowers? Well, I have always imagined that. Growing up in a city gave me less chance to be in touch with nature.
We have a garden back home. My parents love plants. My mom loves flowers, and my dad used to love planting fruit trees or vegetables. But, in our city, I have never seen parks or fields full of flowers. And it's one thing that I really love in Japan.
I always get amazed by how Japan manages to balance the city and nature. Everywhere you go - big cities like Tokyo or Osaka, or in the suburbs, they always have a stunning landscape of trees or flowers.
Different flowers bloom in different seasons, and all of them are pretty and wonderful.
For this blog, I'll be sharing some of the flower parks that I have visited.
Ashikaga Flower Park - Tochigi Prefecture
This park is famous for its Wisteria (fuji in Japanese), a fairytale-like flower that symbolizes long life and immortality. From mid-April to mid-May, this park holds the Great Wisteria Festival, where you can see various wisteria plants in purple, pink, and white.
I came here in the Golden Week of 2017, and the wisteria trees and tunnels were like plants straight from a Disney castle. The light up at night made the place more magical.
The 150-year-old Wisteria tree, the most beautiful in the world, can also be seen in this park.
Hitachi Seaside Park - Ibaraki Prefecture
Another famous flower park in Japan is the Hitachi Seaside Park, located near the Pacific Ocean in Ibaraki Prefecture. It's known for its various plants throughout the year.
People visit here in spring to see narcissuses, tulips, and nemophila. During summer, poppies, roses, sunflowers, and zinnias bloom here. In autumn, there are Kochia (summer cypress) and cosmos flowers. Kochia is green in summer, and it turns red in autumn - just like the plants in Dr. Seuss's books. Then in winter, you may see the beautiful ice tulips.
I went here, also, in the Golden Week of 2017, so I could see the pretty baby blue eyes (nemophila) and the lovely and colorful tulips.
It was my first time seeing a "hill" of blue flowers. It was mesmerizing, except for the big crowd in the area. There were long lines of people walking and stopping by to take photos. It was a bit of a challenge to get a nice selfie. However, the place was still marvelous.
The tulip garden had fewer crowds, but some flowers weren't in full bloom anymore. But, still, the beauty of tulips amazed me.
Shibazakura Park: Hana no Juutan - Hyogo Prefecture
This park has pink mosses called Shibazakura. It is also known as the "flower carpet." Shibazakura is not a type of "sakura." It's a kind of flower that grows on the ground, and its flowers have the shape of those cherry blossoms. Its leaves can cover the ground like grass on a lawn. "Shibafu" (芝生 ) means grassland, and "zakura" is from the word sakura meaning cherry blossom hence the name "Shibazakura" or a lawn cherry blossom.
They are in full bloom from mid-April to early May.
There are also a lot of hidden characters in the area. Can you name them?
Kasaoka Bay Farm Flower Garden - Okayama Prefecture
In the summer of 2017, I got a chance to stop by at this sunflower field. The best time to visit here is in early August.
According to the website, there are about 1 million sunflowers in the area. Other flowers, like poppies and canolas, also grow here in different seasons.
Aramaki Rose Garden - Hyogo Prefecture
This South European-style garden has over 10,000 roses of about 250 species from around the world grow.
The entrance here is free, and it's a nice place to visit with your family.
The best time to visit is from May to June or October to November.
Are you fond of flowers too? Which one is your favorite?
If you have some nice flower fields to share, feel free to comment below.
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