The Yoshino Cherry Tree

Our Yoshino cherry tree, Prunus yedoensis 'Somei yoshino', has awakened from its winter slumber. In Japan, there is a believable legend that each spring a fairy maiden hovers low in the warm sky, waking the sleeping cherry trees to life with her delicate breath. This tree's cousin is the Kwanzan cherry tree.

To see the tree--now about 30 feet wide and about as tall--burst into full bloom is like nothing else! Standing under it, you feel as if you have been transported to a fantasy land...the delicately sweet fragrance of the five-petaled cherry blossoms wafts through the air, and the buzzing of hundreds of pollinating honey bees overhead is frighteningly pleasant. I just adore the round shape of this tree, which we've pruned carefully so that is has an open center.
The Yoshino cherry is a very widely used ornamental tree. Highly revered in Japan, it is the cherry tree responsible for the stunning display on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and the surrounding Washington tidal basin each spring. The National Park Service has created a top-noch site dedicated to the story of Japan's gift of cherry trees to the United States. It is a fascinating timeline account of the introduction of these gorgeous trees to America.

The Yoshino cherry, known as Somei-yoshino in Japan, is a hybrid of unknown origin that was first introduced in Tokyo in 1872 and is now one of the most popular cultivated flowering cherries.

The Japanese flowering cherry is an important source of food for many small birds and mammals including robins, cardinals, and waxwings.