Ahead of cherry blossom season, the ume or plum blossoms brighten up the colder months in Japan. This guide introduces the different varieties. This type of ume is close to the original species ...

Japan is currently right in the middle of plum blossom season. Though they don’t get as much attention internationally as cherry blossoms, plum, or ume (as they’re called in Japanese) flowers are also ...

While cherry blossoms are often seen as the quintessential Japanese flower, the plum blossom once signaled the arrival of spring. Introduced from China around 1,500 years ago, plums were already ...

Shobai is a Japanese term that refers to the act of enjoying plum blossoms in full bloom. The plum blossom season in Japan ...

Hopefully it is back. Dwarf ume and sakura trees can be grown in small spaces, in pots, and you can enjoy your own blossom. When I first visited Japan I assumed that plum and cherry trees would be ...

Kairakuen, which is widely regarded as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan ... still view the pink and white blossoms of the early-blooming types. "Plum ambassadors" promoting ...

A budding plum blossom, photographed on Feb. 15 in Futtsu, in Chiba Prefecture, during one of the 72 microseasons that mark the traditional Japanese calendar: this period, between Feb. 14 and 18 ...

Flowers that bloom on plum trees and cherry trees are similar ... D.C., a second round of shipments of over 3,000 cherry blossoms arrived from Japan in Seattle, and Puget Sound quickly adopted ...