Could The Jefferson Memorial Possibly Look More Beautiful Than At Cherry Blossom Time?
Having lived in the Washington D.C. metro area about a thousand years ago, back in my salad days, I have always loved the cherry blossoms each spring. Although there are now nearly 4,000 cherry trees planted around the Tidal Basin and the National Mall/Washington Monument area, it all started with a gift of just 100 cherry trees to the United States from Japan in 1912, a gesture designed to bring the two countries closer together. In Japan, the cherry blossom is the national flower, symbolizing the renewal of life and the traditional celebration of the blooming is called Sakura . In the US, the blossoms this year are seem all the more poignant because of the sorrow continuing in Japan during this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival, which officially began here this past week. It’s been a while since we have been to Washington at cherry blossom time and we had planned to drive up on Friday morning and come back on Sunday, just enough time to walk the Tidal Basin circuit and enjoy the some of the events. Depending on traffic near D.C. itself, it’s only about a three and a half hours each way, so a fairly easy drive from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. As I always say, one of the great things about living on the Eastern Shore is that our area is so central to lots of off-Shore interesting events and activities, variety being the spice of life.
My March Blooming Bradford Pear Trees.
Well, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Murphy’s Law intervened and so this was the trip that wasn’t. I had been looking forward to this little weekend but I decided that if I couldn’t go to the D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival at least I could do a full tour of our own yard and enjoy my very own blossoms. As usual, the weather on Eastern Shore VA has been beautiful, cool but mild with March showers promising lots of late March and April flowers. In the back yard overlooking the water, our three large Bradford pears are blooming their hearts out, absolutely gorgeous, with lots of little birds darting in and out of the foliage, enjoying the extra cover all the blooms provide. Trees in our little orchard are starting to bloom, some pink and white petals just now showing. In the front yard, the camellia planted under my husband’s office window is off to a very good start, large flowers in deep, deep pink. But the real stars of the current show are the forsythia bushes which are simply beautiful, planted along our eastern property line, a long, long row of blazing yellow blooms, soaking up the sun, their long frothy branches waving in the March winds. So although I missed those absolutely spectacular pink blosssoms in D.C. this week-end, I enjoyed my very own blossoms right here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. ( P.S To see some beautiful photos of the D.C. cherry blossoms, click here .)