Flower Weekend 1: Gunma Plums
| Travel Reports by scarreddragon | view profile of scarreddragon |
| previous post |
| next post |
| Note: The opinions and views expressed in this user report are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of japan-guide.com. |
March 9, 2014 - Flower Weekend 1: Gunma Plums
This weekend we desperately wanted to get out of the house, and decided that combining a motorcycle trip with photographing the plum blossoms would be a good way to do that. So we headed to one of the "Big Three" plum groves in Gunma Prefecture, Haruna Bairin.
As you might notice about the above picture, we were a bit...optimistic about our timing with this particular visit.
Due most likely to a very cold and long-lasting winter, plum festivals all over the prefecture have been pushed back at least a week, and this probably would have been good information to check before actually heading out in the morning. It because a game of "Where's the Flower?" quickly enough, with calls of "HEY I FOUND ONE!" echoing off the mountain and through the trees.
Thankfully, we did find a few nice trees to keep us from feeling like we wasted a trip up the mountain to admire bare trees and buds. The pink plums were certainly giving us a show!
On our way down we did find a really nice white tree as well that was pretty close to full bloom. So while it is certainly no where near peak for the plums of Gunma, there are still photo opportunities to be had. Starting next weekend will definitely be a nicer (and hopefully warmer time), but what flowers that are blooming are very nice now.
| previous post |
| next post |
