Niigata’s Autumn Cosmos Flowers

Cosmos are described as “autumn cherry blossoms” in Chinese characters in Japanese. As the name says, they bloom in autumn (from the beginning of September to the middle of October in Niigata). Cosmos belong to the chrysanthemum family, but the flowers are reminiscent of cherry blossoms. I enjoyed viewing cosmos in two neighborhood parks: the Uehara Cosmos Field and Echigo Hillside Park in the middle of October.

The Uehara Cosmos fields are located in Suhara, Uonuma-city. Those fields stretch across a high plateau, so you can enjoy light and dark pink and white cosmos against the background of the town below and the mountains in the far distance.

Echigo Hillside Park is in Nagaoka-city.  In that vast park, seasonal flowers are beautifully maintained to maximize visitors’ experience all-year-round.

When I visited, they were having rose and cosmos festivals at the same time. 300 thousand pink, dark pink, white and yellow cosmos welcomed us. The yellow cosmos are a new variety, many of which we can at Echigo Hillside Park.

Under the blue sky of a fine autumn day, the colorful cosmos were absolutely picturesque!