‘Sakura Season’ is Back Again in S’pore As Beautiful Flowers Bloom Across Our Island

Most of us have heard of or seen pictures of cherry blossoms by now. Japan is particularly famous for it.

The fragility and the ephemeral beauty of life, that’s what the Japanese see in their treasured sakura. The cherry blossom season is fleeting but powerful, and that is why it is so coveted; that is what gives it meaning.

It is probably this cultural significance that makes the association of cherry blossoms with Japan so thick. In actual fact, you can see them in many countries including those in Asia like China, Korea and India, the USA and many European nations such as Brazil, the UK and Germany.

And guess what, Singapore is not on that list and probably never will be.

But we do have something similar.

What’s Pink, Local and in Full Bloom?

One word: bougainvillaeas

Just kidding. Please keep your machetes and AK-47s, we wouldn’t do that to you.

The flowers we are talking about are actually quite beautiful and unique.

Tabebuia rosea

Or rose-coloured trumpet trees, named after the trumpet-shaped flowers.

According to Mothership.sg:

“The trumpet trees are a South African species that bloom when the rain comes after a period of dry weather.

“Recent occasional rain after a few weeks of a dry spell in February and March has probably triggered this spectacular mass blooming.”

This is a spectacular bit of information that I was hard-pressed to find because searching it up just gives Google a chance to flood me with web pages full of trumpet trees taken around Singapore.

Here are some of those pictures and their locations

Straight from NPark’s Facebook page:

Location: Ulu Pandan Park Connector

Photo credit: Yeow Jie Ying

Location: North Buona Vista Road

Photo credit: Mervyn Tan

For a change, we have another tree with pretty pink flowers. Here’s the Lagerstroemia sp. or crepe myrtle.

Location: Along Tampines Road

Photo credit: Ling Kin Joo

And if all that pink is not to your taste, behold the Tabebuia pallida. After all, cherry blossoms come in white too.

Location: West Coast Park

Photo credit: Mervyn Tan

Hopefully, with all the locations listed, you’ll have a chance to see these blossoms in person.

No need to travel to Japan, right?

No choice, more like.