On Sunday spring officially begins and in our area cherry blossoms are part of nature’s decoration for a short time of the season.
One of those places where you can see the first cherry blossoms is with the trees Prunus × tip ‘Okame’ of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG), marking the beginning of the hanamior cherry blossom viewing season.
Over the next several weeks, the blossoms on the garden’s more than 200 cherry blossom trees will progress from buds to full blooms and petals falling in Cherry Esplanade, Cherry Walk and Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. Consisting of more than 20 cultivars, BBG’s collection is one of the most diverse of its kind in a US botanic garden.
Prunus × tipam ‘Okame‘, located in the area of Cherry Cultivars near Cherry Esplanade, is beginning to bud from deep carmine rose buds to soft rose petals. Visitors can also see two winter-blooming cherries in the Cherry Cultivar Area: Prunus × subhirtella ‘Jugatsu-zakura’ (fall-blooming cherry) and Prunus ‘Fudan-zakura’ (translated as “continuous cherry”), also in the Japanese garden Hill-and-Pond. These two varieties bloom intermittently from fall through winter. ‘Okame’ is usually the first to bloom in spring, followed a week later by weeping cherries in the Japanese garden. Learn more about anticipating when cherries will appear in Can You Predict When Cherries Will Bloom?
Throughout hanami, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s cherry blossom display is tracked on the CherryWatch website. Updated daily, this map provides the state of bloom down to the last petal of each tree in the main collection, as well as detailed information on each crop.
Cherry blossoms aren’t the only stars of the show in early spring: visitors can also see spectacular displays of pink, white, and yellow magnolias at Magnolia Plaza, a brilliant display of daffodils on Daffodil Hill and in the annual border, and more throughout the Garden.
For hours, directions, and admission information, visit bbg.org.
To learn about other places in our area where you can enjoy cherry blossoms, visit our article What are the best places to see cherry blossoms in the tri-state area during the spring?.
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