Spring flowers in Japan: nemophila

Nemophila flowers are what I personally call Baby Blue Eyes in English. Baby Blue Eyes I think is most common name for them outside of Japan. But in Japan most people seem to use the English 'nemophila', probably because in Japanese they use the katakana for nemophila.In Japanese they are also sometimes called Rurikara Kusa.

Nemophila is the scientific name for these petite, delicate flowers. The name Nemophila comes from the Greek ‘nemos’ meaning ‘small forest’ and ‘phileo’ meaning ‘to love’.  Baby Blue Eyes is the common name, derived from the beautiful soft 'baby blue' color of the flowers with a white center.  However, not all nemophila are blue. There are also white nemophila.

The “hanakotoba” flower meaning in Japan is actually taken from English. In English they supposedly represent success as well as forgiveness. They are annuals and typically bloom in spring. In Japan, they most commonly bloom for the month of April. They are in bloom all around the Kanto plain right now.

Fields of Nemophila / Baby Blue Eyes are very popular in Japan. The best known is undoubtedly the nemophila field at Hitachi Seaside Park. In my own prefecture, Shinrin park (officially Musashi Kyuryo National Government Park) has a large display of the petite flowers. 

Have you seen any fields of nemophila / baby blue eyes this year?