Bye, bye, roubai!

Roubai (roubai / robai / rōbai / ロウバイ /蝋梅) is the Japanese for Wintersweet or Japanese Allspice, a decidious shrub that blooms in winter in Japan. This year was a particularly good year for roubai, in my humble opinion. I have been roubai hunting for many years and this year, 2025, they were more lush, vibrant and enduring than I have ever seen them before. Presumably, the weather played an important role in their condition.

However, the season is now coming to an end. In Saitama Prefecture anyway, most of the wintersweet are well past their prime. There may be other parts of the Kanto plain where they are only in full bloom now. I am surprised how long they lasted this year. I was still seeing some wintersweet in bloom this week, in places were they usually have finished by this stage.

For example, I went to one grove that I go to almost every year. I actually didn't go for the wintersweet this year, I would normally go early February for those. But instead opted to wait until later in the month for the plum blossoms. So I was pleasantly surprised when the wintersweet, pictured, were still in bloom on February 20th 2025. They are past their prime, but at the right angle they were still pretty photogenic.

Are you still seeing wintersweet later than usual this year?