Summer flowers in Japan: hibiscus

Hibiscus are quite a popular addition to flowers and parks in Japan, but they don't have the same pull as sunflowers or lotus, for example. You hear of people "going to see the sunflowers" or "going to see the lotus", but I don't think I've ever heard anyone talking about "going to see hibiscus"! They also don't feature much on social media or in travel / local information magazines. But you can see them in many places at this time of year.

I went to see a sunflower and cosmos field earlier in the week. Much to my delight, the location also had hibiscus flowers in bloom. They can bloom from May to October, but generally the best time to see hibiscus in Japan is July. There are some varieties of Hibiscus that are native to Japan, such as Hibiscus Makinoi or Okinawa Hibiscus as its commonly known. But Rose of Sharon, which is the variety of hibiscus I am most familiar with, is not native to Japan but has been cultivated here for a long time.

There are different shades of hibiscus flowers. I see pink and white shades most in the Kanto plain, occasionally some red too. They are the flower of July 11th, August 10th and August 31st. The meaning of hibiscus in the language of flowers is the same in both Japanese and English; "delicate beauty". In Japanese they can also represent "a new love".