USA: Warm weather prompts an early start to cherry blossom season in Washington, D.C., while in New York drummers mark the 100th anniversary of the cherry trees' arrival to the United States, sent as a gift from Japan

Record ID: 595687

  • Title: USA: Warm weather prompts an early start to cherry blossom season in Washington, D.C., while in New York drummers mark the 100th anniversary of the cherry trees' arrival to the United States, sent as a gift from Japan
  • Date: 16th March 2012
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (MARCH 15, 2012) (REUTERS) CHERRY BLOSSOMS ON BRANCHES IN TREE PEOPLE SITTING AND STANDING NEAR TIDAL BASIN AROUND WHICH CHERRY TREES BLOOM JEFFERSON MEMORIAL AND CHERRY TREE BRANCHES VARIOUS OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS ON TREE BRANCHES WOMAN TAKING PHOTO OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND CHERRY BLOSSOMS ON TREE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAL
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVAMUNSDV2Q55BVMLY6CDG8FNJG
  • Story Text: An unseasonably warm winter has prompted an early bloom of cherry trees in Washington, D.C., allowing tourists to get a jump-start on the 100th anniversary celebration of the trees' arrival to the United States.
    Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, D.C.. The trees ring the Tidal Basin area of the city.
    The blooming of the trees usually happens in early April, according to the U.S. National Parks Service. But an unseasonably warm winter has caused the trees to bloom early. The National Parks service predicts that the peak bloom this year will happen between March 20 and March 23.
    More than one million people visit Washington, D.C. each year to view the blossoming cherry trees and attend events that mark the beginning of the Spring season.
    Visitors to the Tidal Basin Thursday (March 15) got a preview to the spectacle to come.

    "Well, it is pretty early. I can imagine when they are full-blooming how pretty it must look all around the Tidal Basin here. It must look really pretty," Javier Jiminez, visiting from El Paso, Texas said.

    "I'm in love with the cherry blossoms and I planned a whole trip around them blooming, and half of them are here - but we're still excited to be here," Elizabeth, from Tampa, Florida said.
    In New York, Taiko drummers from the group Soh Daiko performed at the American Museum of Natural History to mark the 100th anniversary. Some trees were sent to New York.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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