It was mid-February, so I went to the Ikegami Plum Garden in Ota Ward to check on the blooming of the plum trees.
The weather was mild and sunny, and the temperature was a little above 10 degrees Celsius.
Cherry blossoms tend to bloom and fall all at the same time because the variety of cherry trees is predominantly Someiyoshino, but plum trees come in a variety of varieties, so when various varieties are planted on a hillside like in this plum garden, it is natural that some trees are in full bloom and others are still in bud, so it is difficult to say that “at a glance they are in x% blooming” or something. It is hard to get used to it.
But I think it was about 30-40% in bloom, if I force myself to give an overview.
Because plum blossoms of various shapes and colors can be enjoyed up close, many onlookers, not only me, walk around taking pics of the flowers with their cameras and smart phones as they please.
The camera I brought with me that day was the Lumix GF10, a small, lightweight camera that is physically and psychologically energy-saving to carry around.
It is about the size of a compact digital camera, but the pictures are solid as you can see.
Even if the flowers aren’t blooming, watching the buds swell is also a sight to behold.
I’ve got a little bit of white out. I tried to cover it up with some processing during RAW development, but it wasn’t hidden.
I also forgot my telephoto lens, so I walked around with only the standard zoom of 12-32mm (equivalent to 24-64mm in full size), regretting a little that I could have shot a little differently if I had a 35-100mm zoom.
Well, that’s about it for today.
Once again, here is a view of the entrance to the Ota Ward Ikegami Plum Garden
The plum orchard can be viewed from both the top and bottom of the hill. If you turn your head to the right, you can see the whole view spread out on the slope of the hill.
IMHO, the admission fee should be charged a little more than 100 yen only during the high season.
I hope there will be another chance to photograph ume plum blossoms this season.
After this, I headed for Ikegami Honmonji Temple, which is also a standard course.
