DC’s Cherry Blossoms

Connect with Nature

The one break I give myself is to go outside to exercise while practicing smart social distancing. Seven days ago (March 13), no one was out walking along the Tidal Basin at 7 am before sunrise. Yesterday it was a different story. There were a lot more people. But they spread out.

What draws me is the fleeting season of the cherry blossoms (Sakura). It turns my city pink for two short weeks in late March or early April.

Cherry Blossom History

Cherry blossom season Washington DC is a century-long ritual.

“The plantings of cherry trees originated in 1912 as a gift of friendship to the People of the United States from the People of Japan. In Japan, the flowering cherry tree, or ‘Sakura,’ is an exalted flowering plant. The beauty of the cherry blossom is a potent symbol equated with the evanescence of human life and epitomizes the transformation of Japanese culture throughout the ages.”—National Park Service

Hanami Season

This season is characterized by “hanami,” which translated means watching blossoms. This year there will be no Cherry Blossom Festival like years past. The CDC has recommended no gatherings above 10 people. This means the enormous crowds associated with the festival are banned. I will immensely miss the kite flying day. People fly their kites on the hills surrounding the Washington Monument.

I can almost hear “come fly a kite so high/up to the highest height …” Next I will see Dick Van Dyke dancing a jig like a scene out of the Mary Poppins movie.

Best Place to See Cherry Blossoms

But truly nothing can compare to simply walking or biking around the Tidal Basin. I did this four times in the last week to gaze on these ethereal trees. To see them dressed in their finest pink and white frocks as they bow and bend to the wind off the Potomac River is mesmerizing.

No matter how many photos I take, no matter how many trees I see, I somehow can’t absorb this annual miracle. Like a child who wants to run out in a rainstorm to play, I delight to be caught in a pink snowstorm.

Japanese Blossom Poem

There are so many ancient Japanese poems extolling the beauty of these ephemeral blossoms. “Without regret, they fall and scatter …. cherry blossoms,” wrote the revered poet Kobayashi Issa. I am particularly enamored by the poetry of Yosa Buson who was a Japanese poet and painter during the Edo period (1700s):

“As the moon-brilliance makes its Crossing, so Cherry-blossom shadows eastward slowly go.”—Yosa Buson

Cherry Blossom Season Washington DC

Wisely numerous people have cancelled their trips to Washington DC for this annual spring ritual. It is so important to practice social distancing and avoid any crowds. I can attest that there is a major reduction in those coming to walk the National Mall to see the cherry blossoms early in the morning.

I also think many people—both natives who have moved away from Washington DC as well as visitors—subscribe to the cherryblossomwatch on their Instagram feed or track on their website.

I did make a YouTube video on March 20 if you want to take a short virtual walk along the Tidal Basin with me. I visited at 7 am. I had to dart in and out of the groves of trees as well as walk along the wider paths to avoid close contact.

Time for Contemplation

Walking among the Japanese cherry trees is always a contemplative time for me. I find it so easy to lose myself in walking along (as well as stopping under) the sturdy branches of the Yoshino cherry trees.

Many of the trees are so old that they look like gnomes. Their trunks are hefty but their body is short. I can imagine then coming alive at night to revel after the humans retreat.

As a regular walker on the Tidal Basin, I love to watch the cherry trees change from their spindly branches, barren of color, in winter to glints of green as the first buds plump out in March. Next emerge the “florets” and the “peduncle elongation.”

Nearly 11 days earlier than last year, I saw full on puffy white as the trees hit peak bloom this year. It actually feels like summer in DC with temperatures hitting 80 degrees on March 20. Peak bloom begins this weekend when 70% of the blossoms open along the Tidal Basin.

Free Blossom Bus

The Circulator “blossom” bus is also back on the roads again, although there are quite a few less passengers. This year the Cherry Blossom Festival runs March 20-April 12, 2020 but there will be no public festival. The avenues on the National Mall are filled with the pink placards announcing the celebration.

But we won’t see the sky filled with kites flying high on The National Monument grounds. There will be no spectacular fireworks show on the Southwest Waterfront. And Constitution Avenue will NOT be packed with tourists and residents attending this festival.

But the trees are there. And they beg us to remember Nature’s gift to astound and delight. So I come at sunrise this week. White blossoms flecked in pink flutter in the air.

I stand under the branches of the sheltering Yoshino trees, sniff the air and catch a petal floating slowly to the ground, marveling at this floral ballerina dancing in the breeze.

Japanese Pagoda

The Japanese Pagoda, hewn out of rough stone, was placed on the southwest bank of the Tidal Basin and dedicated on April 18, 1958. “It was presented as a gift to the City of Washington, D.C., by the Mayor of Yokohama to ‘symbolize the spirit of friendship between the United States of America manifested in the Treaty of Peace, Amity and Commerce signed at Yokohama on March 31, 1854,” according to the National Park Service.