When you think of flowers blooming in autumn, you’d probably think of the cosmos, those plants with slender stems with red or pink or white flowers that seem to grow almost everywhere roadside.
Cosmos is usually written in katakana (コスモス) but it’s written in kanji as 秋桜 meaning “autumn sakura” or “autumn cherry blossom.” Indeed, cosmos flowers look like bigger versions of the smaller cherry blossoms that herald the coming warm weather of spring.
Ocassionally though, on strange days we sometimes see real cherry blossoms blooming in autumn, like these I found today.
It is certainly strange to find sakura in full bloom in late autumn, just as the tree is shedding leaves.
It is said that cherry blossoms make their flower buds in the summer before shedding their leaves in the autumn to prepare for the cold winter. However, hormonal imbalance from some unknown reason might trick some buds into believing that spring is here and sending their precious cargo bursting outside.
On the other hand, because it will increasingly get colder not warmer, maybe these enterprising blossoms might last longer than their spring sisters. Gambare sakura!