I went to Ashikaga Flower Park in the beginning of May.
Ashikaga Flower Park has many kinds of seasonal flower gardens.
One of the prime attractions of this park is the Japanese wisteria which is blooming from the middle of April till the middle of May.

Wisteria (known as fuji in Japan) is said to be one of the archipelago's most ancient noted flowering trees, even being described in the collected poems of the Man'yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves).

Noda fuji, a species native to Japan, comes in varieties named for their cascading trusses: Usubeni fuji (light pink), Murasaki fuji (purple), Naga fuji (long), Yae kokuryu (double-petaled black dragon), and Shiro fuji (white), which come into bloom in that order. Finally, a yellow variant of wisteria (known as Golden　chain or Common laburnum; [Laburnum anagyroides]) - and widely considered difficult to grow in Japan - can also be enjoyed for over a month.

Three massive wisteria trellises extend for more than 1,000m², in addition to a large trellis of rare double-petaled　wisteria, others suitably arranged as shrubs, an 80-meter tunnel of white and yellow wisteria, and some draped like a living screens, while the early evening sight of wisteria mirrored in the pond takes on an ethereal yet breathtaking beauty.

I enjoyed much seeing picturesque scenery of the various kinds of wisteria and also collaboration of the many other kinds of seasonal flowers such as azalea and lupine etc.

Hotels in Tochigi prefecture

Photos taken in May 7, 2011
in Ashikaga Flower Park, Tochigi prefecture

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