25 Mar 2016

Capitol Hill:

Where to See the Cherry Blossoms Without The Crowds

IMGP1781

Photo by Claudia Holwill

Peak bloom is here! …And so are the crowds. As lovely as it is to see the beautiful cherry blossoms surrounding the Tidal Basin, the crowds can be a bit challenging. Thankfully, there are plenty of great spots right here on the Hill to see the famous flowers.

As Maria previously explained, the saucer magnolias (Magnolia x soulangeana) lining Lincoln Park have been blooming for a couple of weeks now. Casey Trees also has a great online tool that lets you find all of the cherry blossom trees around the neighborhood. My favorite thing about the city’s cherry blossom trees is that we have so many different varieties that all bloom at different times. So even after the trees around the Tidal Basin lose their flowers, there will be plenty of other trees reaching their peak bloom weeks later.

The peak bloom date that everyone talks about is defined as the day when 70% of the Yoshino Cherry blossoms are expected to be open. They tend to stay open for several days, depending on weather. The Kwanzan variety blooms about two weeks later than the Yoshino. The NPS website explains more about the different types and how their bloom times and colors vary:

The Yoshino cherry tree is the predominant variety that encircles the Tidal Basin and spills north onto the Washington Monument grounds. The Yoshino trees produce a great profusion of single white blossoms that create the effect of white clouds banked around the basin. The Yoshino, known as Somei-yoshino in Japan, is a hybrid of unknown origin that first was introduced in Tokyo in 1872 and is now one of the more popular cultivated flowering cherries. Mingled with the Yoshino trees is a small number of the Akebono cherry trees, a mutation of the Yoshino tree with single, pale-pink blossoms, introduced into cultivation by W.B. Clarke of California in 1920. The Akebono tree flowers at the same time as the Yoshino and provides an attractive tint of pink in the early stages of the peak bloom.

The Kwanzan cherry tree, named after a mountain in Japan, is growing primarily in East Potomac Park. Coming into bloom two weeks later than the Yoshino, the upright Kwanzan branches bear heavy clusters of clear pink double blossoms. The cultivars Fugenzo (double, rosy pink flowers) and Shirofugen (double white when open but aging to pink) also are represented. Fugenzo is the cultivar Mrs. Helen Herron Taft believed she planted even before she officially planted the first tree from Japan in 1912. They were planted along the Potomac River from the present site of the Lincoln Memorial southward toward East Potomac Park; they gradually disappeared. As First Lady, Mrs. Taft became interested in the beautification of a particular Potomac Park area, known then as the “Speedway” surrounding the Tidal Basin.

The Weeping Japanese Cherry tree, sometimes called the Higan cherry tree, is interspersed among the Yoshino, Akebono, and Kwanzan trees. The flowers of the Weeping Cherry are variable, giving rise to many different forms (single to double) and flower colors (dark pink to white). They flower about one week before the Yoshino trees.

The warm weather really is almost here so get those walking shoes and get ready to explore the neighborhood in its spring glory.

Tags: , , , ,


What's trending

One response to “Where to See the Cherry Blossoms Without The Crowds”

  1. Vadim Koystinen says:

    Kwanzan’s are almost in bloom. Here is photo of one taken on April 8th 2016 in Northern Virginia.

    https://ksukoystinen.smugmug.com/Galleries/Flowers/i-BpTWNVt/A

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com
Add to Flipboard Magazine.