Here’s another chance to see how artists interpret plants, Road Trips Gardeners. ‘Flowers and Festivals: Four Seasons in Japanese Prints’ opens January 22, 2011, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.

Love of nature and awareness of the changing seasons — longstanding motifs in the literary and visual arts of Japan — often appear in the ukiyo-e woodblock prints that chronicle the life of the urban middle class during the Edo period (1615-1867).

As Japan gradually developed the characteristics of an early modern society, gardening became a pleasure not merely limited to the aristocracy but enjoyed by commoners as well. Citizens of Edo (modern Tokyo) could raise potted plants and miniature gardens at home, and visit public gardens and commercial nurseries. Throughout the year, holidays were celebrated with floral decorations and traditional customs that have been handed down to the present day.

The exhibition runs through August 28, 2011.

(Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts)