Well, Wattle Ya’ Know!

Spring can never come quick enough, and even though Tokyo had a warm winter, the wait for warmer, brighter weather seems interminably wrong, as symbolized by the blossoming of the wattle trees in Kangaeroo Corner.

Although temperatures may have been warmer than average in the 2023-2024 winter, the fully fledged onset of spring is as slow as ever, we’ve had more days of snowfall and, at least as far as my guesses go, it’s been a darker year than usual.

My reckoning is that 2024 has been cloudier and seen less sunshine than normal for a winter in Tokyo, which I tend to view as having bright, sunny days with cold winds. We haven’t had much sunshine this year, though. At least as far as I have been able to tell.

Consequently, flowers have bloomed later than normal. March 8 is International Women’s Day and the wattle is a symbol of the occasion. Last year, Kangaeroo Corner’s silver wattle was almost filled with blossoms at that time. This year, a full cluster of blossoms finally bloomed over the weekend. The golden wattle is still some time away, but it will be exciting with many buds poised to bloom after only a couple of branches had flowers last year.

I’ve got to admire our silver wattle. We have had it for many years, growing it in a pot for its first few years. We were going to throw it away when we moved here three years ago, but before we had come here, I sawed the trunk off to a height of about 1 meter and planted the tree anyway, assuming it would die. Well, how wrong I was! The tree has thrived in Kangaeroo Corner, growing to about 3-meters-tall and blooming every year with a thick trunk that had once been nothing more than a branch.

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