The cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the moat of Osaka Castle.  The plum blossoms in the plum garden have passed, but they are still in bloom.  The flower peaches of peach garden bloom at the same time as the cherry blossoms, and the chrysanthemum-peach bloom last.  However, due to the recent climate change, the order is out of order, and plums, cherry blossoms, and peaches are blooming freely.  Just now , when you go around Osaka Castle, you can see all the flowers.  There are two main types of peaches, edible peaches and cultivars of flower peaches.  Flower peaches are in bloom in the peach garden of Osaka Castle, and the buds of edible peaches have just begun to swell on the farm in southern Osaka.  Peach was the earliest to be introduced to Japan, and it was not until the Edo period that flower peaches became popular as a horticultural species, and most of the existing flower peaches were born in this period.  Chrysanthemum-peach is a kind of flower peach, and as the name suggests, it looks like a chrysanthemum blooming on a tree.  Taiko Hideyoshi would have been pleased to see this cherry blossom.

大阪城のお堀ばたは桜が満開です。梅園の梅も盛りは過ぎましたがまだ咲き残っています。桃園の花桃は桜と同時位に咲き、菊桃は最後に咲きます。しかし最近の気候変動の影響で、順序もバラバラ、梅も桜も桃も好き勝手に咲いています。今は大阪城を一巡するとどの花も見られる状態です。桃は大きく分けて２種類あり、食用の実桃と園芸品種の花桃に分けられます。大阪城の桃園に咲いているのは花桃で、実桃は大阪南部の農園でまだ蕾が膨らみ始めたばかりです。桃はいちばん早くから日本に移入され、その内、花桃が園芸種として盛んになったのは江戸時代になってからで、今ある花桃のほとんどはこの時代に生まれました。菊桃は花桃の一種で、名前の通り、まるで木に咲いた菊の様です。太閤さんが見たらきっと喜ぶでしょう。