Tag Archives: Nishio city

A lull on the blog

I’m anticipating a lull on the blog in the next while.

In the meantime here are some photos of Flowering Cherry Blossom as spring continues apace.

Thank you for reading and following my blog. I hope to be back very soon. Feel free to have a dig into the archives or visit the other bloggers I follow.

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A host of golden daffodils……..of various tonings

Spring is showing itself here more dramatically with each passing day. I went down to the reserve near our local school and kindergarten today where there are thousands of daffodils planted. They are planted in the grass beneath a stand of flowering cherry trees.

I blogged about the cherry trees here and mentioned that this reserve is in honour of Porirua’s sister city relationship with Nishio city in Japan.

The wind was gusty so the daffodils were dancing and nodding. The trees above them are budding but have to yet to flower.

A variety of daffodil bulbs have been planted giving a varied show.

Across from the reserve was a weeping willow tree just putting out its first soft, tender, pretty green leaves in a hazy display.

A flowering fruit tree was bursting with blossom.

And further down the walkway was a small flowering tree with these delicate white blossoms showing.

Flowering cherry trees in their autumn tonings

Some years ago now a wonderful decision was made by our local city council. In recognition of Porirua’s Sister City relationship with Nishio City in Japan, a grove of flowering cherry trees was planted on grassy reserve land near our local school and kindergarten.

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This grove of trees brings such simple but profound pleasure to so many residents and visitors as the trees cycle through the seasons. Last spring the flowering was prolific and the lack of wind meant the blossoms were not ruined. In summer it is a shady, leafy spot for children to play or picnic under and for dogs to enjoy sniffing about on their daily walk.

Autumn brings a dramatic colour show with the trees now large and spreading. We have been enjoying, actually reveling in an Indian summer since Easter and the nights have not been crisp and cold in the main. This has meant the leaves on these trees have not had the stimulation that causes strong colour changes. However nature is at work right now despite our “false” summer and the trees are well worth visiting to enjoy their autumn splendour.

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With storm force winds predicted for yesterday and through the night we decided to head down to the grove to capture some photos before the leaves were stripped off by the gales.

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The wind proved to be very “Wellington”. So strong I had trouble opening my car door against it and to walk into the wind required a certain lean that all Wellingtonians get teased about. It was nevertheless invigorating as swirls of fallen leaves from the many deciduous trees in that spot flew up and around us.

Such a large expanse of varied colour was a challenge to capture on humble digital cameras from ground level but we did our best.

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After being buffeted and blown about we returned home feeling utterly refreshed and “our cobwebs” blown away.