Every season has its hue. Summer comes in shades of blue, from those periwinkle vacation skies to the deepest turquoise waters. Autumn’s treasure is its gold, red and orange harvest. And those “hazy shades of winter” range from cobalt gray to snow white. But what about spring? Yes, grass green and yellow sunshine and purple tulips come to mind. But in blessed places around the world, this season also brings an abundance of pink—in the stunning form of the cherry blossom.
These pale-pink beauties are part of the Prunas tree family, particularly Prunus serrulata, the Japanese Cherry tree, or sakura. In Japan, cherry blossoms symbolize clouds, probably because they tend to bloom en masse, and are also used as a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life. Every year as spring approaches, the Japanese Meteorological Agency tracks the sakura zensen (cherry blossom front) as it moves northward up the archipelago. Since Japan’s fiscal and school year both begin in April, the first day of work or school often coincides with the cherry blossom season.
Whether or not you live in Japan—or Australia, or the Netherlands or China, where cherry blossoms also reign supreme—these bountiful buds may be appearing soon in a town near you. In the U.S., several places are known for their April sakura festivals, from Branch Brook Park in Newark, N.J. to Balboa Park in San Diego. Also expected to be wearing a blanket of pink are Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park, the University of Washington in Seattle, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in New York, and areas of Macon, Ga. And let’s not forget the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. (pictured), which is anticipating cherry blossoms to arrive sometime this week, despite a cold and snowy winter.
