That is the official prediction as to when the cherry blossoms will be at peak in the National Capital Area.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, DC by the mayor of Tokyo to celebrate the continuing good relations between the two cultures.
By 1915 the United States government responded with a gift of flowering dogwoods to the people of Japan.
Three thousand eight hundred more trees were accepted in 1965 by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. In 1981 the tree giving came full cycle when Japanese horticulturalists came to Washington to receive cuttings of the Yoshino trees to replace ones that had been destroyed by flood in Japan.
The festival is actually two weeks long - March 29 to April 13 featuring numerous events, sporting activities, banquets and the Cherry Blossom Parade on Saturday April 12.
As you travel around the Maryland and Virginia suburbs you will note the extreme popularity of cherry trees in the area. Sudivision entrances, individual yards, shopping centers, schools, churches,and government buildings beautifully display cherry blossoms. As a matter of fact, the picture above is of a huge cherry tree on Smoketown Road in Lake Ridge, VA. If there is any bad news it is that these are all ornamental cherry trees - no cherry pie cookoffs during this festival.
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