Spring Flowers

Oh, Yes! It's Ume season (plum blossoms). I know that all of Japan would probably smash my head in the refrigerator door if they heard me say this, but I'm not too sure that Sakura (cherry blossoms) are any better than Ume! Not only that, but the Magnolias are blooming too! It's just too hard to decide what's the most beautiful! Haven't got pictures of Magnolias yet, but I'm working on it. Don't know why I'm so enraptured by them, probably because we don't have them in Montana! (I felt the same way about the Gardenia last summer when I saw and smelled them for the first time)! Here is my ode to Ume, and I get to do Umemi (plum blossom viewing) later on today!

I'm especially smitten with the weeping Ume, much more romantic and elegant than the "upright" variety


And looky looky! Some "early bloomers!" I think these might be the actual fruit-bearing Sakura, which are said to blossom earlier