The Spectacular Beauty of Cherry Blossoms
By Adrian Cavlan
A few weeks back , we were having our weekly management meeting at the office when I looked out the window and saw something breathtakingly beautiful: two cherry trees in full blossom.
I mean - these things were spectacular. I tried to capture a couple of photos but I and my phone were, as I feared, far underqualified to capture the true beauty before us. But, here are the pics anyway…
I understand that Washington D.C. is known to have the most spectacular cherry blossom display available annually in this country. One day, I hope to visit there during that time of year to see for myself, but meanwhile, the history of the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. is in and of itself fascinating:
It all started with the request from Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore in 1885. Scidmore, the first female board member of the National Geographic Society, approached the U.S. Army superintendent of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds after returning from her first visit to Japan and asked that cherry trees be planted along the Potomac River. Unfortunately, her request was ignored.
A full 24 years later, in 1909, Scidmore decided to take it upon herself to raise the funds needed to purchase the cherry trees and donate them to the city. She wrote a letter to the first lady, Helen Herron Taft, outlining her plan, and quickly heard back. The first lady was onboard!
Days later, Dr. Jokichi Takamine, a Japanese chemist, was visiting D.C., and asked the first lady if she would accept a donation of 2,000 cherry trees, but unfortunately, shortly after their arrival, the Department of Agriculture discovered the trees were infested and diseased, and were ordered to be destroyed.
In an extraordinarily generous act, Tokyo’s mayor Yukio Ozaki, suggested a second donation, and on March 26, 1912, over 3,000 cherry trees arrived in D.C. and were planted along the Tidal Basin. Then, in 1965, the Japanese government made another donation of 3,800 to Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, and many of these trees were planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
The first Cherry Blossom Festival was held in 1927, and has since expanded. Now, the celebration spans four weekends in March and April, and attracts more than 1.5 million people from all over the world.
Even though this year it won’t be possible to attend these wonderful events, we encourage you to mark the dates on your calendar next year for the local Cherry Blossom Festival in Cupertino on the last weekend in April 2021. Here’s some information on it: https://www.cupertinocherryblossomfestival.org/