I confirmed that fragrant winter jasmine had begun blooming at Shinagawa Ward Park, so just a few days later, I headed there with my LUMIX S1IIE and SIGMA 20-200mm lens.
After about a 10-minute bus ride from Chofu Station on the Keio Line, I arrived behind Jindaiji Temple. The teahouse behind the Genzo Daishi Hall has such a nice atmosphere that I really wanted to peek inside, but…
Glancing sideways, I decided to hold off on visiting Jindaiji Temple this day and entered the park through the Jindaiji Gate of the Jindai Botanical Garden.
The plum garden where the winter plum trees were in full bloom should be right next to the Jindaiji Gate. I walked through the winter-like scenery.
I still haven’t gotten the profile for this lens, so as usual, especially when shooting wide-angle and developing RAW files, there’s noticeable vignetting. But hey, this will do for now.
Oh, I can see the early-blooming white plums already in bloom.
I wasn’t expecting much from the plum blossoms, so this is lucky.
Things were going well up to this point, but I soon realized a major miscalculation.
The dozens of winter jasmine flowers I’d been aiming for weren’t blooming.
It’s not that there were zero flowers, but the blooming was so sparse it killed my motivation to even point my camera.
I was stunned by this unexpected turn of events.
Given how well they were blooming at Shinagawa Ward Park just the other day, it was inconceivable that so few were open in Chofu at this time of year. Perhaps something unusual had happened to the winter jasmine in this garden this year.
My expectations were greatly dashed, but there was nothing to be done. Pulling myself together, I headed toward the large greenhouse, thinking I might as well see the water lilies on my way back.
And then, in the rose garden just before the greenhouse, I discovered an unexpected subject.
Given the time of year, I assumed the roses had been thoroughly pruned and were in their winter slumber. But quite a few withered blooms remained, adding a rather charming touch here and there.
Not only are there plants left with their flowers intact, but there are also many trees that have been properly pruned. I wonder what the difference is.
I missed photographing the winter jasmine, but I unexpectedly discovered that the winter-dried? rose flowers are surprisingly beautiful.I took a few more shots at the botanical garden, but since this is getting long, I’ll save those for next time.
