Dreaming of Cherry Blossoms
10/04/13 04:52
The snow is letting up, but we have a lot of it on the ground. I blew snow twice yesterday and will be at it again before too long. There are a few places around our house where the drifts are 3 or more feet deep. It is impressive and beautiful. There will probably be a few more snow flakes as the storm moves off to the east and then things will start to warm up. It is forecast to stay below freezing today, with temperatures rising tomorrow and highs in the 50’s by the end of the week. The snow will melt, hopefully slowly enough to soak into the ground, which is dry. We had fun yesterday using Skype and FaceTime to show the snow to our family members who are in different places.
Our son and his family live in Olympia, Washington, where the highs have been in the 50’s. Yesterday was a beautiful day for outdoor activities and taking walks along the Chehalis trail. Today they’ve got rain in their forecast, which is typical for this time of the year.
Our daughter and her husband are visiting his parents in the Washington, D.C. area, where the weather has been beautiful. It is a perfect time to get out and enjoy the beauty of the famous cherry trees around the tidal basin. The cherry blossoms last for only a couple of weeks and it is reported that there are more than a million visitors in the city to take part in the annual cherry blossom festival. You can rent paddleboats to view the trees and their reflections from the tidal basin, or take a stroll along the area and enjoy the fragrance and beauty of the pink and white blossoms. It is a truly lovely time of the year there. In the past couple of years, we have experienced comparatively mild weather as the D.C. area suffered blizzards and major storms, so while we are enjoying our blizzard and snow days, the folks in D.C. deserve their mild weather.
Getting the cherry trees for Washington D.C. was a challenging adventure from the perspectives of horticulture and diplomacy. The story of the trees, which were a gift of friendship to the People of the United States from the People of Japan, is usually said to date back to 1912 when 3,020 trees arrived in Washington D.C. The idea of planting trees dates back quite a bit earlier.
Mrs. Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore proposed planting cherry trees back in 1885 after a visit to Japan. The Potomac waterfront had recently been reclaimed and she approached the Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds. There was no response to her request but she continued for nearly a quarter of a century to lobby for the trees. In 1906, Dr. David Fairchild imported 75 cherry trees from the Yokohama Nursery in Japan. Those trees were planted on his property in Chevy Chase, Maryland where he assessed their hardiness and adaptability to the climate of the D.C. area. The experiment was a success and the Fairchilds joined others in advocating cherry trees for Washington D.C. and the surrounding area. Private land owners imported another 300 trees and in 1908 the Fairchilds gave one cherry tree to each school district in the District of Columbia for their Arbor Day celebrations.
Mrs. Scidmore began to raise private funds for cherry trees for Washington D.C. and in 1909 first lady Helen Taft made an official request for cherry trees from the government of Japan. Diplomatic talks followed and the City of Tokyo donated two thousand cherry trees which were shipped by boat to Seattle and overland by train to Washington DC, arriving early in 1910. The Department of Agriculture inspected the trees and found them to be infested with insects and nematodes and were deemed to be a threat to American growers. President Taft granted his consent to burn the trees and they were destroyed.
Two years later, in March of 1912, the 3,020 cherry trees of the second shipment arrived in Washington D.C. These trees consisted of a dozen varieties. On March 27, 1912, the First Lady and the Ambassador from Japan shared in a tree planting ceremony on the north bank of the Tidal Basin and the famous Washington D.C. cherry tree festival was born. Each year since that time people have come to the city to view the trees. Over the years additional items have been placed in and around Washington D.C. to symbolize the friendship between the People of Japan and the People of the United States. A 300-year-old stone Japanese lantern was presented by the Ambassador of Japan in 1954 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Treaty of Peace between the United States and Japan. The crown that is worn by the cherry blossom queen was a gift of Mikimoto Pearls, Inc. It is decorated with more than 1,500 pearls and contains more than two pounds of gold. There is a stone pagoda that was presented to the Mayor of Washington D.C. by the Mayor of the city of Yokohama in Japan.
In the mid 1960’s First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, accepted another gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the Japanese Government. Many of these newer trees were planted around the Washington Monument, extending the area where cherry trees can be viewed.
Over the years, cuttings from the trees have been sent back to Japan to preserve the trees’ genetic lineage. Several trees have been propagated from the 1,400+ year-old “Usuzumi” cherry tree in the Gifu Prefecture of Japan are growing in the Washington D.C. area. Approximately 100 new trees are planted in the area each year to insure the health of the trees and provide diversity of age.
But there are no cherry trees blooming in our yard. It is a good thing, too. This blizzard would have taken all of the blossoms off of the trees. It probably would have broken branches and caused a lot more damage as well. I doubt that we have much damage; just a lot of snow that we’ll clear and watch melt over the next week.
While the folks enjoy the cherry trees in D.C., folks in S.D. will be digging out.
Our son and his family live in Olympia, Washington, where the highs have been in the 50’s. Yesterday was a beautiful day for outdoor activities and taking walks along the Chehalis trail. Today they’ve got rain in their forecast, which is typical for this time of the year.
Getting the cherry trees for Washington D.C. was a challenging adventure from the perspectives of horticulture and diplomacy. The story of the trees, which were a gift of friendship to the People of the United States from the People of Japan, is usually said to date back to 1912 when 3,020 trees arrived in Washington D.C. The idea of planting trees dates back quite a bit earlier.
Mrs. Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore proposed planting cherry trees back in 1885 after a visit to Japan. The Potomac waterfront had recently been reclaimed and she approached the Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds. There was no response to her request but she continued for nearly a quarter of a century to lobby for the trees. In 1906, Dr. David Fairchild imported 75 cherry trees from the Yokohama Nursery in Japan. Those trees were planted on his property in Chevy Chase, Maryland where he assessed their hardiness and adaptability to the climate of the D.C. area. The experiment was a success and the Fairchilds joined others in advocating cherry trees for Washington D.C. and the surrounding area. Private land owners imported another 300 trees and in 1908 the Fairchilds gave one cherry tree to each school district in the District of Columbia for their Arbor Day celebrations.
Mrs. Scidmore began to raise private funds for cherry trees for Washington D.C. and in 1909 first lady Helen Taft made an official request for cherry trees from the government of Japan. Diplomatic talks followed and the City of Tokyo donated two thousand cherry trees which were shipped by boat to Seattle and overland by train to Washington DC, arriving early in 1910. The Department of Agriculture inspected the trees and found them to be infested with insects and nematodes and were deemed to be a threat to American growers. President Taft granted his consent to burn the trees and they were destroyed.
Over the years, cuttings from the trees have been sent back to Japan to preserve the trees’ genetic lineage. Several trees have been propagated from the 1,400+ year-old “Usuzumi” cherry tree in the Gifu Prefecture of Japan are growing in the Washington D.C. area. Approximately 100 new trees are planted in the area each year to insure the health of the trees and provide diversity of age.
But there are no cherry trees blooming in our yard. It is a good thing, too. This blizzard would have taken all of the blossoms off of the trees. It probably would have broken branches and caused a lot more damage as well. I doubt that we have much damage; just a lot of snow that we’ll clear and watch melt over the next week.
While the folks enjoy the cherry trees in D.C., folks in S.D. will be digging out.