A Sure Sign of Spring: Cherry Blossoms in Bloom

Thought Question: Where is your favorite place to enjoy the beauty of nature, and what makes it special to you?

For some, the No. 1 viewing experience of spring is baseball's opening day. Others might tune in to the basketball action of March Madness. But for nature lovers, the best show in town is blooming cherry trees.

“We're thrilled to announce that the cherry trees have reached stage 5 - Puffy White. The blossoms are starting to show, now we're just waiting on them to open. Peak Bloom is next!” the US National Park Service posted to social media Sunday. The message quickly got over 100,000 views and thousands of likes.

“Puffy white” is one of the pink tree flower’s six growth stages. They begin with the first sighting of buds. Then they move to “florets visible,” “extension of florets,” “peduncle elongation,” “puffy white,” and finally “peak bloom.”

This year, budding on the iconic stands of cherry trees in Washington, DC, began on March 11. That kicked off the city’s annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. It marks the partnership between Japan and the US. In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gifted 3,000 of his country’s famous cherry trees to the US capital. It has since planted hundreds more. The two-week festival features art, walking tours of the groves, blossom-catching competitions, and even a concert, aptly named “Petalpalooza.”

The blossoms are expected to change from puffy white to peak bloom later this week, filling the air with fluttering pink petals. Scientists say it continues a trend of earlier blooms spurred by climate change. The peak has moved up an average of eight days over the last century.

Gif of cherry blossoms from GIPHY.