The month of March has passed almost halfway, but it is still cold due to the record breaking cold winter. But if you look around in the nature, we can steadily find spring here and there.

Speaking for spring flowers, we instantly imagine cherry blossoms, sakura. But flowers of Japanese plum, ume, and peach, momo, also indicate arrival of spring.
They all look alike, don’t they? It is not easy to distinguish which is which only at a glance, but each flower has its own characteristics.

Can you tell which flowers are Sakura (cherry), Ume (plum), and Momo (peach)?

The colors of flowers vary depending on the species of each tree between white, tint pink, vivid pink, and red. Pay close attention to the petals of each flower.

Ume, plum: Round petals, bloom directly from branches (no flower stems),
(Left) leaves come out after flowers fall.
Momo, peach: Sharp petal edges, short flower stems, flowers bloom with leaves.
(middle)
Sakura, cherry: Small split at petal edges, long flower stems,
(right) leaves bloom as flowers begin to fall

Now, let’s look at the illustrations of each flower.

How is it? You can tell the difference.
It is not too long until we get to see the full bloom of those beautiful spring flowers in many places in Japan.