If you've been following along, you've seen ume blossoms, cherry blossoms, and wisteria. This year, at least. I've shared others in other years, but for all newcomers we'll stick to this year.

There is another one that's out at this time of year. This one doesn't have it's own festival like the others (at least not in this area), but it is still very well thought of and you can see it growing in many peoples' yards.

Here we go, I spotted one on my photowalk. Let's lead off with this photo so it is the thumbnail.

But the one I came across first was this one.

It's called tsutsuji in Japanese. It's a type of azalea that I think is originally from China and Japan and was later exported to Europe and elsewhere. It's a pretty flower. Usually you see solid dark pink or white ones or but there is also a mixture of white and pink that is also common. I'm sure there are other colors, but if so then I don't see them often enough to remember.

Speaking of home gardens, here is a small one I came across:

Most houses don't have a yard, but that doesn't prevent them from enjoying a garden. Often they will fill every open space outside possible with potted plants. While these potted plant gardens don't equal a real garden, they do have their own charm and add some small bits of nature to what would otherwise be boring and ugly concrete.

Some do grow their potted plant gardens to be pretty big.

And some just go completely nuts. There's barely any room left for their car in this next one.

But just because most houses don't have a yard doesn't mean there is no grass to be found. Though often when you do find a patch, it's more clovers than grass. Usually when I am with my kids I pause to look for 4-leaf clovers with them. Often if we focus for long enough we can find at least one. But this time I didn't pause to look. What do you think—did I miss any?

Well, that's about all for this trip outside. I finished the walk at a shrine where I was greeted by this guy:

I took several more photos of the shrine but let's save those for next time.

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.