The double pure white blossoms of the Mount Fuji flowering cherry opened last month and I knew that was my favorite tree.  It called to me on my walks and I kept getting drawn to it.  My dog tried to get me over where the grass smelled like several shades of pee, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of this tree.  Petals so white, so light, they seemed to be made of some other-worldly matter that drifted down from the stars.  The buds, slightly pink, opened to a clear true indescribable white.  Well, let me try to describe.  It’s definitely not just plain old white.  It’s not snow white, or paper white or milk white, but maybe moon or star white.  At a glance it appears a light joyful, carefree white, but upon inspection, it’s alive with colors. So many colors of the rainbow are swirling around those blossoms that they all crash into each other and explode into white. Light, bright, shining spring white.  When I stand under that tree, gazing up at thousands of soft petals, the future and the past become irrelevant. There is only the here and now.  It’s as if that Mount Fuji flowering cherry has the power to pull me into the present like no other life form.  I am here, surrounded by color, and all I see is white full of light.  But then the dog insists on pulling me over to the next clump of sweet-smelling grass and it’s back to the future.  Hey, is that a Kwanzan Flowering Cherry?  Those petals are so pink, like nothing I’ve ever seen before…

Gypsy

Kwanzan Flowering Cherry