In Japan, A Strange Sight: Cherry Blossoms Blooming In The Fall

[jpak]

Source: NPR

In Japan, the springtime bloom of cherry blossoms is an annual rite of celebration, accompanied by picnics and parties under the flowering canopy.

But this week, an odd thing happened: Some of the trees bloomed again. In autumn.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that a weather company had received hundreds of reports of the trees blooming, across an area stretching from Kyushu, in southwestern Japan, to Hokkaido in the north.

The apparent cause? The two typhoons that struck the country in September and early October.

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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/18/658484696/in-japan-a-strange-sight-cherry-blossoms-blooming-in-the-fall

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[BumRushDaShow]

1. Not just cherries!

Just as I was about to close the back door for the night, I saw one of my lilacs with a tiny bloom at the very top! And the thing is... with this particular lilac... it is one of the later blooming ones (in fact, my latest), usually a couple weeks after the common Syringa vulgaris.

I have seen some types of cherry trees here in the Philly area rebloom in fall if they bloomed earlier than usual in spring, and were able to mature new growth enough for that new growth's bloom buds to go ahead and open.

The OP article's suggestion in Japan's case was that the trees doing this had been defoliated by the winds of 2 typhoons and thus the tree went into a sortof artificial dormancy. Once the temps heated up again, the trees let the newly-formed flower buds to go ahead and open as if it were spring again.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. We have some very old camellias down here in our "sub tropical" climate

which is just north of "coastal" Ala.

Camellias bloom around January, a reliable winter bit of color.
And for the past 13 years, it has been so.
The temps have dipped from the 90's days, and gone down to 50's a few nights. Which is normal.

The big pink camellia is flowering now.
The bloom time tho, is not normal.

[susanna]

11. As an avid gardener, I sincerely try to tell people -

anyone who will listen.

I am growing lavender in a 5 zone. And it lives, year after year. This isn't normal. I'd expect a 70-some percent death rate but NOPE. (And I don't baby it nor mulch it. I plant a new one every year for comparison...all still alive going on five years.)

I - one year - even overwintered rosemary in my northern zone. That plant was near our brick house and I'm sure the warmth helped, but hello...

THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

I know what to do to keep plants alive, but usually in my zone it's to take them inside as a cutting or transplant.

What is happening with our planet and the things we grow? These are not normal things. Thank you for pointing it out.

[Locrian]

13. most people are so out of touch with the land that they don't even realize what it means... n/t

[susanna]

17. True. And very sad. n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Those zone maps we are familiar with are changing.

I read a few years ago the zones were marching northward.

That prediction did not count on our area having 20 degree above normal temperature swings all this year.

[susanna]

16. Yes, the zones have changed.

I was once a solid 5 but am now considered 5B...

It is really something. If I had not been gardening since I was young, I would have zero idea!

[Botany]

3. This kind of thing happens all the time

apples, cherries, some rhododendrons, and other spring blooming plants
sometimes bloom in the fall ... no big thing

[Docreed2003]

5. I'll be honest, I'm a sorely lacking in botanical knowledge

But this is the first year our azaleas, hydrangeas, and Japanese magnolias have all bloomed again in the fall...it's been a gorgeous surprise as I had no idea they could do that!

[john657]

4. When I was stationed in Japan,

I got to see with my own eyes the beauty of the Cherry Blossoms, quite stunning.

[3catwoman3]

6. Same here. I was at Yokota AB for...

...2 years, and the cherry blossoms there, and the donated ones in DC, are among the most breathtaking sight on the planet, IMO.

[john657]

7. Hey, I was at Yokota also in '71.

Small world.

[3catwoman3]

8. '78 and 79 for me.

I loved it there.

When I got back to the States, it took me several months to stop bowing to the sales clerks in department stores. That earned me some strange looks.

I was the pediatric nurse practitioner at the little base hospital. What was your career field?

[john657]

9. Weapons operator on Helos.

I was a door gunner on a Huey in Vietnam, then trained on the AH-1 Cobra's.

Was TDY at Yokota as an Army liason with the AF.

[Judi Lynn]

12. I went to google images to look at photos of cherry blossoms in Yokota, and was overwhelmed!

I couldn't bring just one of the photos and paste it here, as I wouldn't know which one to choose. So astoundingly beautiful. I would want to post them all. Here's the tinyurl to the images of Yokota cherry blossoms:

https://tinyurl.com/y7mglblp

OMG.

I could imagine there are some people who just pass out seeing these trees in Yokota for the first time!

[john657]

14. I would recommend that if you ever get the chance,

go there and see it in person, it is quite breathless.

[yuiyoshida]

10. Amazing.

素晴らしい。