When you think of Japan’s flora, the famous cherry blossoms probably come to mind first. But their brilliant flowering wisteria is also a show-stopper.
Known as fuji, brightly colored wisteria flourishes in the spring, forming vivid tunnels and crawling up trellises in all shades of purple, pink, blue and white.
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Sometimes, depending on the temperature, very lucky visitors to Japan can see the cherry blossoms and the wisteria blooms during the same visit – the best time to go is late April to early May, during the fuji festival.
Different colors of wisteria blossoms appear throughout the season: Pale red flowers bloom during the first weeks, while white flowers appear mid-season and golden Kibana flowers show up last.
More than 350 wisteria trees are on view at the world famous Ashikaga Flower Park during the fuji festival. There, visitors can walk under Japan’s only tunnel of Kibana wisteria and see a veritable rainbow of trees throughout the rest of the park. One of the wisteria trees is close to 150 years old.
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At night, the trees are lit for an even more enchanting visit. The entire park glows with gorgeous color.
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The Fuji festival isn’t the only option for plant lovers. Another popular flower festival occurring at around the same time is the Fuji Shibazakura Festival.
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It happens when the foot of Mt. Fuji is covered in a vibrant carpet of flowering moss called shibasakura, and the colors are amazing.
Life doesn’t get much prettier than that!
