The History Behind Washington's Beloved Cherry Blossoms
After a series of tumultuous weather conditions and two peak
bloom prediction delays, the National Park Service announced yesterday it is
officially peak bloom season for the Washington D.C. cherry trees.
The best viewing days of the Yoshino trees will be for
the next four to seven days, but the National Park Service (NPS) says the trees
can hold the blossoms up to two weeks under ideal conditions.
Peak bloom date is defined as
the day when 70 percent of the Yoshino cherry blossoms are open. It generally
occurs between the last week of March and the first week of April, but
unusually warm or cold temperatures can result in early or late blooms.
History of the trees
So where did the cherry trees come from? The
short version you’ve probably heard is the original trees were a gift of
friendship from Japan, but there is far more backstory to the trees and much
has happened to them during their time in D.C. over the years.
The first female board member of the National
Geographic Society and travel writer, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, encountered
Japanese cherry blossoms during her visit to her brother George, who worked for
the U.S. Consular Service, and fell in love.
Upon her return to D.C. in 1885, she set out
on a mission to have the cherry trees planted in the Potomac Park. She spent
the next 24 years presenting her ideas to every Superintendent of Public
Buildings and Grounds, only to be rejected each time.
Meanwhile, David Fairchild, a doctor and a
U.S. Department of Agriculture official, was also enamored with the Japanese
cherry trees and had successfully planted 100 of the trees on his personal
property.
Scidmore and Fairchild met during Arbor Day in
1908 and began working on a plan to acquire cherry trees for the park. Scidmore
sent a letter to first lady Helen Taft requesting approval of the plan and help
in acquiring the trees.
Two days later, she received confirmation from
the first lady, who set about making arrangements for the cherry trees. Famed
Japanese chemist Dr. Jokichi Takamine, who was in town at the time, learned of
the plan and offered Taft a gift of 2,000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo.
She readily accepted.
Yet when the trees arrived in 1910, the USDA
found that they were infested with insects, nematodes and diseases. The trees
were burned to protect native plants, but it was a tense diplomatic situation.
The Secretary of State and Japanese Ambassador made new arrangements and Tokyo
Mayor Yukio Ozaki offered a new gift of 3,020 trees.
Twelve varieties were prepared and carefully
observed to ensure they were in perfect health before shipping them to the
United States. This new batch reached the capital in March 1912 and later that
month the first lady and the Japanese
ambassador’s wife planted the first two trees, which are still standing today.
The trees quickly became a beloved part of the
city and outraged female activists actually chained themselves to the trees
when the Tidal Basin was selected to be the location of the new Jefferson
Memorial in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt told the activists that the
trees were simply being transplanted, not cut down, and the rest of the tree
removal was conducted in the night to avoid another Cherry Tree Rebellion.
Three years later, after the recent attack on
Pearl Harbor, Americans turned their hostilities toward the trees and four were
chopped down. While some called for the cherry trees to be uprooted and burned,
the NPS decided to call the cherry trees “Oriental” instead of “Japanese”
during the span of the war.
D.C.’s cherry trees were menaced once more in
1999 when beavers brought down four of them and injured others. The furry
culprits were eventually caught and relocated.
Fewer than 100 of the original gifted cherry
trees remain, but according to History.com, tree grafts were gifted back to
Japan and one of them can be found in front of a tombstone in Yokohoma Foreign
Cemetery. The marker is for Eliza Scidmore and it reads: “A woman who loved
Japanese cherry blossoms rests in peace here.”
Types of cherry trees
According to NPS, there are approximately
3,800 cherry trees within
the park. While Yoshino cherry is the most predominant variety, there are quite
a few other types present with different blooms.
Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoenis) – Comprising approximately 70
percent of the total number of cherry trees.
Kwanzan Cherry (Prunus serrulata “Kwanzan”)
– 13 percent of total population.
Takesimensis Cherry
(Prunus takesimensis) – 5 percent of total population.
Autumn Flowering
Cherry (Prunus subhirtella var. autumnalis) – 3 percent of total population.
Akebono Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis “Akebono”)
– 3 percent of total population.
Weeping Cherry (Prunus Subhirtella var. pendula) – 2.4 percent of
total population.
Usuzumi Cherry (Prunus spachiana f. ascendens) – 1.3 percent of
total population.
Sargent Cherry (Prunus sargentii) – less than 1 percent of total
population.
Afterglow Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis “Afterglow”) – less than
1 percent of total population.
Shirofugen Cherry (Prunus serulata “Shirofugen”) – less than 1
percent of total population.
Okame Cherry (Prunus x “Okame”) – less than 1 percent of total
population.
Source: Jill Odom - Total Landscape Care
