End of cherry blossom is the beginning of vibrant colorful flower blooming! If you are travelling in spring to early summer, there are many parks and gardens where you can see a variety of colorful flowers. Shibazakura is one of the popular kinds that continues the shades of pink.
The moss phloxes are not part of the cherry tree family. They are small, five-petaled flowers that grow to 15cm (around 6 inches). They are in white, pink, rose, mauve and blue color. At Shibazakura Hill in Hitsujiyama Park of Chichibu City, north of Tokyo, there are some 400,000 moss phloxes blooming in late spring, early summer. The Japanese called it “Shiba-zakura” because of the resemblance of the pink color to cherry trees and they usually bloom around the same time, I think.
Hitsuiyama park is a big park. Shibazakura hill is at the corner where you have to walk another 15 minutes from the entrance. 芝櫻之丘位於羊山公園的角落，到達公園還要走15分鐘路才到達。While Hisujiyama Park is free. There’s an entrance ticket of ¥300 for entering the Shibazakura Hill. 羊山公園是免費的，芝櫻之丘要收¥300入場費。This spectacular view is right in front of you after you pay for the entrance fee. Definitely worth it! 付了入場費後，走不遠就會看到這一大片桃紅地毯，絕對值回票價！The curvy patches of different color of moss phloxes creates a beautiful picture. 不同顏色的芝櫻很有心思地種植在山丘上，流線型的顏色變化和組合形成一幅十分漂亮的圖畫。Moss Phloxes are very small and only grow to about 6 inches. They bloom in the end of spring to early summer. 芝櫻花朵很細小，長得密密麻麻，英文名字是 Moss，青苔的意思，開花期在每年春末至初夏，即4月至5月期間。The mauve color moss phloxes are even smaller, I think. 淡紫色芝櫻好像更細小。The white ones are nice too. It’s beautiful every where. You don’t need to be a great photographer to take good photos here. 白色的芝櫻也好看，總之任何角度看都十分美麗。不用什麼攝影技巧都會拍的好看。A gorgeous spring carpet! 動人的春天紅地毯！Sunny blue sky and a lovely environment make me want to stay longer. 別小看這片山丘的魅力，一來就玩了半天。又是一個大藍天，真的不捨得走。One more photo of a different angle to share. 再來一張不同角度照片分享。Okay. Hitsu means “sheep” in Japanese. So where are they? They are right at the entrance of the Shibazakura Hill. There is an animal experience section for children where you can feed them. 那羊山公園的「羊」呢？就在芝櫻之丘的入口。這裏有體驗活動，可以餵飼綿羊。If you come over mid April, you may still see the weeping cherry trees at the same time. 如果你在4月中來的話，還可以看到枝垂櫻。These are the last few cherry trees in my spring trip. A perfect ending. 這幾顆是我這次春季櫻花之旅最後看到的櫻花樹，碧藍天空、綠草地、粉紅櫻花樹，為旅程畫上完美的句號。Transportation: Take JR train to Seibu-Chichibu Station, then walk 30 minutes to Shibazakura Hill. Go to the tourism information to ask for the walking direction. It takes about 2 hours from Tokyo. 交通：火車到西秩父站，然後步行約30分鐘到達櫻花之丘。最好到旅遊中心，有人會教你步行方向。從東京去約兩小時左右。
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