Peak bloom of cherry blossom gives Washington a lovely and elegant feel. Circling Tidal Basin, endless cherry blossoms burst into color in a beautiful display of floral fireworks. Tourists and photographers flood into the area and stop to admire the sea of pale pink and white flowers. Petals drift onto the calm water, but despite placid appearance, this is the command center for hardball policy making towards the world. Washington in itself is a popular tourism destination, and cherry blossoms produce a soften experience for people visiting this powerful leadership center. Perhaps that's why Washington beats many other places with much larger tree population to become a world famous site for cherry blossom watching.
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Cherry Blossom in Tidal Basin, March 26, 2016 |
The plantings of cherry trees originated in 1912 as a gift of friendship to US from Japan. 3,000 trees arrived in March, proved immediately popular to visitors. Over years, more renewal trees were shipped from Japan to expand the planting and replace death, and cuttings from Washington cherry trees also were given back to restore Tokyo collection that was decimated by US bombing attacks during World War II. In 1935, US government first held the 'Cherry Blossom Festival' under joint sponsorship by numerous civic groups, becoming an annual event thereafter.
Today, 3,800 cherry trees grow there still, majority of them located near the Tidal Basin and along the shoreline of East Potomac Park, extending all the way to Hains Point. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is one of the most heavily attended annual events in Washington, DC. Each year, over one million tourists were attracted to the city during the entire flowering period, with largest crowds arrived on the weekend during peak bloom days.
Cherry blossom is a short-lived beauty. In Washington, the peak bloom date is defined as the day on which 70 percent of the blossoms of the Yoshino cherry trees that surround the Tidal Basin are open. The date varies from year to year, could be as early as March 15 in 1990 and as late as April 18 in 1958, depending on weather conditions. Forecasting peak bloom is almost impossible more than 10 days in advance.The peak bloom may last a week, while frost or high temperatures combined with wind or rain can shorten this period. The 2016 peak bloom arrived on March 25, and 4 days later the blossoms are on their way out. The image above was taken on March 26, and one week later it looks like this:
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Copied image: Cherry blossom in Tidal Basin, April 2, 2016 |
I was lucky enough to visit Washington this year right on the second day of peak bloom with a perfect weather condition. Flowering of cherry trees was quite spectacular under sunshine:
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Peak bloom, Tidal Basin |
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Cherry Blossom, Tidal Basin |
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Cherry blossom, Jefferson Memorial |
Volume of flowers is rather shocking:
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Peak bloom of Yoshino Cherry |
Washington doesn't have a wide variety of cherry blossoms and roughly 10 cultivars can be found here. The most popular cherry blossom is the Yoshino, or 70% of total population, mainly lining along Tidal Basin. Rest species of cherry trees mainly grow along Hains Point Loop. Blooming in Washington usually starts with Yoshino, followed by other types, and finished by Kwanzan 2 weeks after.
Yoshino flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with light pink, especially near the stem. They bloom and typically fall within a week, before the leaves come out. Therefore the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. Truly dreamy:
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Yoshino Cherry, 70% of total |
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Walking beneath a grove of full bloomed Yoshino feels like walking beneath clouds:
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Beautiful Yoshino cherry |
Flowering together with Yoshino is the Akebono cherry, or 3% of total. It has masses of large, semi-double, pink flowers that fade slightly as they age:
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Akebono Cherry (pink tree on the left), 3% of total |
Weeping cherry represents 2.4% of Washington cherry population. The tree is at its best when pendulant branches are covered with pink or white flowers:
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Weeping Cherry, 2.4% of total |
Kwanzan perhaps is the last cherry to flower in spring Washington, while the tree is the showiest. You get twice as many petals and blooms as found on other trees. It blooms in large clusters of 3-5 flowers, and these clusters are the thickest of all pink flowering trees and look similar to carnations.
The photo below was taken on March 28, 2012, my first attempt for Washington cherry blossom watching. Wrong date. Yoshino flowers were gone, and Kwanzan was the only thing blooming by then... Tragedy.
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Kwanzan cherry, 12.6% of total |
Cherry tree is not the only thing flourish in Washington when I arrived. Large Magnolia trees produce showy, fragrant flowers with sweet fragrance fills the air. Exceptionally appealing:
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Magnolia trees bloom in front of the Washington Monument on March 26, 2016 |
Not sure if this is a red cherry or some kind of Bignonia:
Charming tulip against blue sky and white Capitol:
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Tulip, March 28, 2012 |
When I about to enter West Potomac Park to explore verity species of cherry trees unlike Yoshino surrounded Tidal Basin I stopped. Running out of time. I struggled a little bit to decide if shall keep finding more cherry species or go to national art gallery for Van Gogh painting collections and chose the later. Timeline to leave Washington is by 5pm. That's what happened when you joined a group tour to come here.
If you can only make one trip to DC, make it in spring for cherry blossom. Have camera with travel.
check my blog for more interesting travel reviews: http://chinadiansalmon.blogspot.ca/
