Cherry blossom season 2014 in Germany

The cherry blossom season has started in Germany!!!

;-)

Though we've many cherry trees in the spa gardens of our hometown,

only two of them are 'Prunus serrulata', so Japanese Cherry.

Here you see the location of the two Japanese cherry trees.

The Japanese relief stele and Japanese cherry trees are sponsered by Bad Mergentheim's Japanese twin town Fuefuki 笛吹市  in the Yamanashi Prefecture.

Unfortunately the background is not the very best to take great photographs of the cherry trees out of different camera angles - and it's not only the huge and ugly distribution box that frustrates me and my photographic ambitions to capture the cherry blossoms in all directions with a suitable background.

So please conceive your own opinion about my shots of this year's cherry bloom...

桜 Sakura - the flower of the Japanese Cherry in my hometown

Bad Mergentheim, spa gardens, today.

  

Japanese relief stele and Japanese Cherry trees sponsered by Bad Mergentheim's Japanese twin town

Fuefuki 笛吹市  in the Yamanashi Prefecture.

Who can translate the Japanese characters cut in the stele for me?

--> "Gift from Isawa, Japan, (on a happy day in) May, 1993"

Thanks, Sapphire & Yoko & Sarah!

The two cherry trees left and right side of the relief stele are short prior the full bloom.

While taking the photographs of the blossoms and petals I tried to put the focus on a suitable background for my prime motifs - what was not always a simple task because of unfavourable surroundings in our park.

The thought flashed through my mind that ...

... I should try out my flashlight to create a different atomsphere on the blossoms.

On the spring equinox

Clouds wander about

The entrance of a mountain temple.

- Iida Dakotsu -

Happy hanami - happy flower viewing!

Advent of the cherry blossom in my hometown

Hanami, "flower viewing", German style.

No more, no less.