Blossom Time in the East End
In Bethnal Green
Let me admit, this is my favourite moment in the year – when the new leaves open fresh and green, and the streets are full of trees in flower. Several times, in recent days, I have been halted in my tracks by the shimmering intensity of blossom at its peak. And so, I decided to enact my own version of the eighth-century Japanese custom of hanami or flower viewing, setting out on a pilgrimage through the East End with my camera to record the wonders of this fleeting season that marks the end of winter incontrovertibly.
In his last interview, Dennis Potter famously eulogised the glory of cherry blossom as an incarnation of the overwhelming vividness of human experience. “The nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous … The fact is, if you see the present tense, boy do you see it! And boy can you celebrate it.” he said and, standing in front of these trees, I succumbed to the same rapture at the excess of nature.
In the post-war period, cherry trees became a fashionable option for town planners and it seemed that the brightness of pink increased over the years as more colourful varieties were propagated. “Look at it, it’s so beautiful, just like at an advert,” I overheard someone say yesterday, in admiration of a tree in blossom, and I could not resist the thought that it would be an advertisement for sanitary products, since the colour of the tree in question was the exact familiar tone of pink toilet paper.
Yet I do not want my blossom muted, I want it bright and heavy and shining and full. I love to be awestruck by the incomprehensible detail of a million flower petals, each one a marvel of freshly-opened perfection and glowing in a technicolour hue.
In Whitechapel
In Spitalfields
In Weavers’ Fields
In Haggerston
In Weavers’ Fields
In Bethnal Green
In Pott St
Outside Bethnal Green Library
In Spitalfields
In Bethnal Green Gardens
In Museum Gardens
In Museum Gardens
In Paradise Gardens
In Old Bethnal Green Rd
In Pollard Row
In Nelson Gardens
In Canrobert St
In the Hackney Rd
In Haggerston Park
In Shipton St
In Bethnal Green Gardens
In Haggerston
At Spitalfields City Farm
In Columbia Rd
In London Fields
Syd’s Coffee Stall, Calvert Avenue
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Gorgeous! I too have a great fondness for blossom time.
…and a nightingale sang in brick lane.
http://sounds.bl.uk/Environment/British-wildlife-recordings/022M-W1CDR0001378-0800V0
Blossom time makes every place special and pretty, because someone planted them for that purpose alone. They just make people happy.
Fab photos – thank you!
Worth the walk!
Beneath the beautiful trees you can see the humble Dandelion “Dent de Leon” with is petals resembling lions teeth, ignored and derided because it comes to us so freely, yet look at the perfection of the floret in brilliant yellow and when it seeds before the first puff of wind lace that is better than anything from Flanders. Every weedkiller commercial zaps it. If it were hard to grow it would be at Chelsea. At least in me it has one admirer,
Gary.
I so enjoy reading and seeing what you do ,never would have discovered spitalfields life if you had not discovered Barn the Spoon ,so thank you for giving me something special that takes me back to my teenage years when I would roam the East End and find so many interesting places.
Wheee… Gorgeous!
Beautiful! I lived in Bethnal Green through the autumn and winter, and moved just recently so I never got to see it looking anything other than dull until now!
Jess x
We went away on holiday for two weeks leaving England in Winter, and returned to all the lovely blossom. Transformed in two weeks, just love the blossoms. Thank you wonderful photos.
Lovely photos, thank you. The long winter must have done the trees a lot of good for them to flower so profusely. Wish the same could be said for humans; I for one do not like long winters.
…… beautiful pictures, thank you …. (that little house in Shipton Street also looks lovely behind the pink blossom)
Refreshing pics! I’d love to see the Museum Gardens. Thanks.
A joy to behold.
This is my first spring in London after having moved here last June (just as it began to downpour, and continue through the rest of the summer)…and I have to say that the past few weeks have been absolutely amazing. Definitely makes up for the long, dark winter. Thanks for sharing these gorgeous photos!
I visited a friend living in East London in the last week of this past March.
I did enjoy the visit, but with these rich cherry blossoms I would have sung all the songs of this world! Thank you so much for sharing!
Whitechapel…x
http://instagram.com/p/YxFyANurYt/
i love the blossom season. to me, it is more than just the promise of spring. it is a sign the the london is unfurling itself after months of hibernation. this is such a beautiful piece!
Exuberant pictures, Gentle Author. I love the explosive shapes made by the branches – and the fish about to devour another fish in Bethnal Green Gardens.
Beautiful
Lovely pictures to cheer up our cold, wet, horrible winter.
There’s a nice group of cherries in the grounds of the former St Clements Hospital in Mile End, visible from Southern Grove.
…like frozen fireworks.
I love the multi coloured grafted cherries on the Mile End Road/Southern Grove
FB Page Greetings from Mile End
Jeanette, thank you for the song of the nightingale.
And of course dear “gentle author” for your
blog on trees in blossom