In winter, many trees shed their leaves and flowers disappear for the cold months. This week, I wanted to see if I could find some flowers in season. One day, after finishing my temple chores, I saw a bonsai in the temple courtyard. A bonsai is a miniature tree. It was so beautiful and had so many buds and blossoms. It was a plum tree, called ume in Japanese. To find more plum blossoms, I went to a nearby garden. Check out my video to see the different types of blossoms: https://youtu.be/0Lm6hgFSZek
Plum blossoms usually have five petals. They can come in white, pink, dark pink, and every shade in between. Blossoms that have more than five petals are called yae-um and plum trees with weepy branches are called shidare-ume. They also have a nice sweet scent.
I felt really happy because plants can look really sad and bare during winter, but here was a plant that was so alive and beautiful even though it was cold.
