Cherry Blossoms at the National Arboretum

Earlier this month, Bill and I spent a few hours one morning photographing the blossoming cherry trees at the National Arboretum in DC. If we’re going to be photographing the Cherry Blossoms on the weekend – we usually head to the Arboretum rather than the Tidal Basin. At the Tidal Basin – there are always crowds. At the Arboretum, we’ll only see a few other photographers early in the morning when we tend to photograph.

This year, I photographed two varieties of cherry trees. The first was a Prunus sargentii tree. Named for the American plant collector Charles Sprague Sargent, these trees were discovered in the mountains of Japan in the 1890s. They are known for their reddish bark and wonderful pink flowers.

The second cherry tree I photographed was a Yoshino cherry tree. When people think about cherry trees at the Tidal Basin in DC – most often they are referring to the Yoshino Cherry trees given as a gift in 1912 to Washington DC from Japan. In the 1970s, botanists from the National Arboretum took cuttings from some of the 1912 trees to preserve the species. Several of the trees at the Arbortum were grown from these cuttings, including the one I photographed. These trees are genetically identical to the trees originally planted at the Tidal Basin.

The cherry blossoms are one of the highlights of spring in the Washington DC area. Each trees blooms for only a few days. At the National Arboretum there are enough different varieties of trees that some sort of cherry trees are in bloom for at least two weeks in the spring. I’m already looking forward to photographing some more cherry blossoms next year.