Went for a lunchtime walk with a friend to see flowers.
The highlight being of course the park’s namesake, ume! There are many different varieties and many are labeled, I just forgot to photo the labels to remember which were which other than the two I know for sure. Umekoji Park has around 150 ume trees of which there are 14 different varieties, some that bloom as early as January or like these which bloom late February to mid March.
Some other flowers we passed by today. Friend said the weeping-willow style tree at Nishi Hongwanji was sakura but I think it is actually a shidare-ume since the blossoms are on the branches/very short and stubby stems and the petals are smoothly peaked at the tip. And yes, there are varieties of ume with drooping branches just like with shidare-zakura, but sakura have thin, long stems for the flowers plus the petals are notched at the tip.
That third one!
Aki
Wm.son