The city of Mito is famous for its park, which is one of the top three Japanese gardens.

The park, called Kairakuen is known specifically for its more than three thousand plum trees. The high interest in Plum is that it signals the end of winter and the beginning or Cherry Blossom season.  Mito has a Plum Festival from around Mid-February to celebrate the flowering of the Plum, that occurs a short time before the Cherry.

It almost the first colors of spring..the more than one  hundred different varieties of Plum trees with white, pink and red flowers.