Savour spring’s blossom displays
AS the country emerges from a long, wet winter, people are being encouraged to pause, sit back and savour one of nature’s most special spectacles – blossom season.
Now in its fifth year, the Hanami-inspired celebrations promoted by The National Trust urge the public to immerse themselves and their senses in nature as it wakes from its slumber.
In Japan, Hanami – which literally means ‘flower viewing’ – happens every spring between late March and May.
People gather in numbers for food, drink, socialising and song to marvel at the beauty of sakura – or flowering cherry blossoms – while even the likes of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo opens its doors to visitors who wish to marvel at its displays.
While back in the UK, there had been warnings that the sights and smells of this year’s blossom season could appear earlier than normal, the trust says cooler temperatures and continued rainfall in late March has ‘allowed nature to slow down’ and catch up with itself in many places.
National Gardens consultant for the National Trust Pamela Smith said: “This winter we encountered unseasonably warm temperatures, and there is no denying that effects of climate change are getting more noticeable year on year.
“However, thanks to the more recent cold snaps, this rapid progress has slowed down somewhat, and in some places the blooming of blossom has almost fallen back into a familiar rhythm.”
The National Trust, which has long campaigned to return blossoming trees to our landscapes in order to create a UKequivalent of Hanami, is once again encouraging the public to share on social media pictures of blossom discoveries where they live using the hashtag #Blossomwatch.
An official Blossom Week is taking place from April 20, while to further connect Britons to blossom, the organisation will also host more than 120 events at its sites between now and May, ranging from tai chi in orchards to blossom bathing in hammocks.
However, the conservation charity is clear that enjoying the short-lived spring spectacles can take place anywhere and is simply centred around celebrating the ‘feelgood’ signs of the new season.
Head of gardens and parklands at the National Trust Andy Jasper added: “While Mother Nature works to her own timescale, now is the perfect time for us to sit back and take in the signs of new life popping up in the landscape, whether that is at National Trust places, public parks in cities or our own backyards, and indulge in the joy of nature waking up from its slumber, with the people around us.”