NAGASAKI, May 10 ― Shipments of astilbe plume-like flowers, available in a variety of colors including pink, white, purple and blue, are reaching its peak to be sent as gifts for Mother’s Day on May 11.
Growers of Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, known as Japan’s leading producing region of the flowers, are offering fresh astilbes dyed in different colors using a unique coloring technique.
The astilbes of various hues are proving popular among florists nationwide and are attracting attention on social media as flowers that are hard to come by.
In Sasebo, 12 growers who belong to JA Nagasaki Saikai, a local agricultural cooperative, cultivate astilbes on areas totaling about 3 hectares.
They together ship roughly 1 million to 1.2 million astilbes a year, grown both in greenhouses and outdoors.
Roughly 40% of the flowers shipped are dyed. Dye colors are changed depending on the season, with the flowers being dyed pink in spring and blue in summer for example.
Leading up to Mother’s Day, they are shipping as many as 40,000 astilbes a day to 20 markets in the Kanto, Kansai, Tokai and Kyushu regions.
The flowers can be dyed and shipped according to the consumers’ needs.
Haruki Yoshimura, 72, who grows astilbes on a hectare of land in Sasebo, said, “By listening to the voices of florists, I want to explore consumer preferences and reflect them in coloring.”
Astilbes dyed in different colors are prepared for shipment in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, before Mother’s Day.