Friday Photos: Cherry Blossoms galore
A look back at DC's annual rite of spring
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The National Cherry Blossom Festival is still in progress until April 14, but the famous blooms have already come and gone, peaking about two weeks ahead of the 25-year average and a few days before the festivities officially kicked off. Washington experienced yet another abnormally warm winter, and a week-long period of temperatures in the mid-70s prompted a lot of the blossoms around the city to pop out en masse before the official first day of spring. The famous trees around the Tidal Basin usually take a little longer to bloom than the rest of the city because if their proximity to chilly water, but the National Park Service officially announced peak bloom on March 17, the second-earliest on record. Following that announcement, an extended period of unseasonably cool temperatures kept the blossoms on the trees for more than a week.
Along the Tidal Basin’s sinking seawall, which will undergo an extensive three-year restoration beginning later this year, the blossoms drew the usual crowds at their peak despite beating the actual start of the festival by a week. I visited the cherry blossoms twice this go-around, once each at sunrise and sunset, and they didn’t disappoint.
The Tidal Basin may have the most famous cherry blossom trees in the city, but there are many other places in town where you can enjoy them. Close to my home on Capitol Hill, Stanton Park is lined with a couple dozen yoshino cherry blossoms, which bloom about a week before the trees along the river.
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