Slip out of the Palaceside Building and wander. Strolling the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace (Edo Castle), whose reopening we reported the other day, we found the Japanese irises in the Ninomaru Garden "iris field (shobuta)" at their peak = the photo above was taken last week
On the Imperial Household Agency website, under "East Gardens of the Imperial Palace," there is a "Nature and Wildlife Information" page (https://www.kunaicho.go.jp/event/yacho/ikimonojoho.html) with the latest update as of June 12, which reads as follows.
All 123 clumps of Japanese iris in the Ninomaru Garden iris field are now in bloom; we recommend visiting from this weekend through early next week. Around the Ninomaru rest house, Stewartia is in bloom; in the Ninomaru woodland, balloon flowers are out and tawny daylilies have begun. Around the Honmaru, hydrangeas and lacecap hydrangeas are blooming.
Japanese iris means purple, but the subtle differences in depth by variety feel just right. That is what you want to compare and savor.
Name tags are attached in the iris field, so we photographed a few up close. Let us introduce some. The last six, from left, are (1) Onigashima, (2) Fujimusume, (3) Aoi no Ue, (4) Ho-o-kan, (5) Naminori-bune, (6) Gosho-asobi. We lined them up from what seemed darkest to lightest.
Which is your favorite?
