Fall flowers: Dahlia

Dahlia bloom in perfect timing with Autumn in this area of Saitama. They usually start to bloom the first week of September and you can see dahlia right up until early November. But reportedly there are some places you can see them as early as July. There are many different types of dahlia and many different colors too. One of the most colorful dahlia locations is Grinpa, at the foot of Mt Fuji. There you can see thousands of colored dahlia backdropped by a windmill and majestic Mt Fuji. The windmill is a nice touch considering that dahlia were brought to Japan by the Dutch! I have been to Grinpa a few times, but regrettably not when the dahlia were in bloom.

I usually get to see dahlia in various parks around Saitama Prefecture. Shinrin Park, in Namegawa Town, have a good selection. The featured photo of this post, pictured above, was taken at Shinrin Park. But in Saitama Prefecture reportedly the best place to go for dahlia is the Dahlia Garden at Mt Ryokami Fumoto Hana no Sato in Ogano town (Chichibu District). The garden is open from September 1st to November 3rd annually. Generally it closes during that period if there is a typhoon or particularly bad weather forecasted.

Supposedly in the English language Dahlia are said to represent "dignity" and "elegance". In Japan's flower language they also represent those two qualities, but also "splendor". However, "fickleness" and "instability" are another two words they are said to represent. But despite being more of an autumn flower than a summer one, they are the flower of June 5th and July 29th in the summer. However, they are also the flower of three different dates in September too: the 10th, 15th and 24th. The latter is specifically the flower day of yellow dahlia.