Loveliest of Trees

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now     Is hung with bloom along the bough,     And stands about the woodland ride     Wearing white for Eastertide.     Now, of my threescore years and ten,     Twenty will not come again,     And take from seventy springs a score,     It only leaves me fifty more.     And since to look at things in bloom     Fifty springs are little room,     About the woodlands I will go     To see the cherry hung with snow. by A. E. Houseman ~ A Shropshire Lad

Comment: I was twenty-three before I saw a cherry tree so I, alas, won't get my "fifty springs." I memorized the poem in anticipation of my first springtime in Washington, when the area falls under an enchantment by nature, and each spring I make a special blossom-viewing outing. It's necessary to get up *very* early if one to get to the Tidal Basin before the tourists arrive.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival attracts a lot of visitors to Washington, but the blossoms don't always show up for the event. The National Park Service (NPS) has planted a number of varieties around the Tidal Basin and in East Potomac Park in order to extend the viewing season. The NPS monitors blossom development and reports it on the Peak Bloom page. If you're interested in festival events independent of blooms, visit the National Cherry Blossom Festival site.

I once overheard a young tourist ask his mom, "What happens to the cherries?"  Answer: there aren't any; the trees don't set fruit.

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Credits:

Cherry blossoms at Tidal Basin, Washington D.C.
Photo by Bob Nichols.