This week we are extremely blessed to be among the 1.5 million visitors delighting in the peak bloom of cherry blossoms in Washington DC.

The first cherry trees in the US capital were the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC. Since then the yearly blooms have attracted millions from all over the world.

Only a poet could eloquently expressed the beauty of cherry blossoms as scholar-poet and shogunal mandarin Matsudaira Sadanobu (1758-1828) wrote, “… with branches so gentle, flowers so delicate in shape, and hues so simple that the total effect is perfect beyond belief.” 

We arrived nearing sunset, along with people who flocked to the Tidal Basin, an inlet adjacent to the Potomac River created in the late 19th century to provide recreational space and as a means for draining the Washington Channel after high tide.

Children in strollers, parents holding hands, amateur and professional photographers, painters, lovers, all came for the magnificence of sakura, Japanese for cherry blossom trees. Weather permitting; the period of sakura peak bloom can last for up to 14 days.

Washington DC in springtime, in the words of Visit Washington, D.C. washington.org, is a palette of contrasts: green grass, blue skies, pink cherry blossoms and white marble. The marbles signify the impressive national monument and memorials around the tidal basin.

Most visitors sit on blankets under the blooming trees, having a good time chatting with friends and families. Colorful coolers full of foods and drinks abound. An ice cream man busily passing popsicles to buyers as it was unusually hot for spring.

In Japan, Makiko Itoh described for Japan Times, this annual rite of spring is called hanami, a picnic and party under the blossoming tree. Itoh further explained that sakura leaves and flower are preserved in salt. The leaves act as edible wrappers for wagashi, traditional Japanese sweet. Sakura flowers are ingredients for sakura-yu, tea made by floating the blossoms in boiling water.

In Washington DC instead of consuming sakura leaves and flowers, through Cherry Picks program, more than 100 restaurants serve creative spring and Cherry Blossom inspired entrées, appetizers, desserts, cocktails, or multi-course menus. The National Cherry Blossom Festival  runs a series of events for three weeks, promoting traditional and contemporary arts and culture, natural beauty, and community spirit.

Erik Abel an artist and designer from Ventura, California designed the official 2013 Poster, a huge and sturdy cherry tree overlooking the Tidal Basin, with the Jefferson Memorial and blooming trees in the background. In our walk we saw a big branch like the one in the artwork.

Washington DC – Cherry Blossom Food Tour explore area chefs' creativity with Cherry Blossom inspired food and drink either Japanese inspired, or a sweet and savory cherry inspired dish.

With all kinds of interesting activities all over town during the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the Tidal basin is still the major attraction. Traffic was so bad it took us more than an hour by taxi to reach the basin from Dupont Circle area in downtown DC where usually it only takes 10 minutes.

Festival organizers wisely encourage visitors and residents to bike, walk, and use public transportation, the metro bus and metrorail, whenever possible. We loved seeing the red bikes provided by Capital Bikeshare.

The millions of visitors to the Tidal Basin would not have been able to enjoy the cherry blossoms without the hard work of those who preserve the magnificent trees According to the US National Park Service, the care of the Japanese flowering cherries has been entrusted to the members of the Tree Crew for National Mall and Memorial Parks. They are professional arborists who possess technical competence through experience and related training to provide for the care of the trees. The most common maintenance tasks performed involve pruning, watering, wound treatment, insect and disease control, fertilization, aeration/vertical mulching and replacement.

What makes the cherry trees bloom when they do? In article for The Washington Post, Brian Palmer cited a research by Ove Nilsson of Sweden’s Umea Plant Science Center.  The buds that open in the spring and produce the beautiful flowers were initiated the year before in the summer and develop through the fall. The cherry trees recognize the arrival of winter by sensing a decline in daylight and detect the arrival of spring based on temperature. When there are enough warm days in a row the blossoms open in the spring.

Presently there are 3770 sakura trees around the tidal basin in Washington, D.C., 100 of them the original trees from the 1912 batch.

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Images: Jrelka, Yumehana/Shutteratock, National Cherry Blossom Festival, Omar Niode Foundation