Despite loving all things Japanese, I’ve never been to Japan, but now I can say I’ve been to a Sakura [Cherry Blossom] festival. Ta dah:
[Apologies for the size of the photos. I wanted them to be as lovely as possible]
These are ornamental cherry trees gifted to Melbourne by the government of Japan. The grove was planted in Banksia Park, which is situated on the boundary between the suburbs of Heidelberg and Bulleen.
Not all of the cherry trees survived the harsh, Australian conditions, so the Japanese community in Melbourne took the fledgling grove under its wing, saving as many trees as possible and caring for the whole grove. The photo below shows one of the cherry trees that was saved:
You can see how close this poor tree came to dying.
Thanks to the efforts of the Japanese community, people like me can now enjoy a little taste of Japan without having to leave home.
Arigato gozaimasu!
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
October 19th, 2018 at 11:33 am
Clicks are beautiful. I wish I could see cherry blossoms in real. Although I had seen once an only tree blossoming.
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October 20th, 2018 at 9:06 pm
Oh you would love this grove! There were so many of them, all flowering. Just magnificent.
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June 8th, 2019 at 2:00 pm
Now, its on my travelling bucket list for sure.
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June 8th, 2019 at 2:28 pm
Awesome. 🙂
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October 19th, 2018 at 3:05 am
Beautiful! We’re waiting for the leaves to turn yellow, orange, and red. Pink is a long time away for us! Fortunately for me, I love autumn, and don’t even mind winter (so long as the heater works!
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October 19th, 2018 at 7:26 am
Oddly enough, I love autumn too, even though we don’t get the spectacular colour displays. Over here, winters are cool and wet and everything is green. Summer tends to be baking hot and dry, so spring is like a taste of what’s to come. The exact reverse of your weather I suppose. 🙂
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October 18th, 2018 at 8:30 am
i didn’t know that the grove existed. What a wonderful treat. My brother, who is fascinated by Japan and was the impetus for my Japan trip last year, intends to go there next March to see the blossoms. I will have to tell him that he can see them closer to home!
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October 18th, 2018 at 12:24 pm
lol – or he can see them twice! Once in October and once in March. 🙂
I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time when a lovely Japanese lady walked in. She was distributing flyers for the festival, and when I saw how close it was to Warrandyte, I knew we had to go. So glad we did. 🙂
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October 17th, 2018 at 12:05 pm
Just when Autumn is finally settling in, in my corner of the globe it was nice to see SPRING in its glory. There’s nothing like cherry blossoms. The sing, “spring!”
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October 17th, 2018 at 10:15 pm
I know! lol Even after all these years of online living, I still can’t completely get my head around the weirdness of timezones!
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October 17th, 2018 at 11:04 am
Grand and wonderful. the blossoms look so fragile and yet so beautiful. Hugs
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October 17th, 2018 at 10:15 pm
Hi Scottie! They truly were lovely. I think the Offspring and I will make this a yearly event. 🙂
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