Photo near the Manchester/Vernon CT townline.

Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com

Cherry blossoms in springtime stir the inner spirit ~ their beauty is breathtaking. Typically they are in bloom in April and early May in the Northeastern United States & other regions.

A fond memory of mine as a student at the University of Connecticut is a hot spring day, wearing tan fatigue shorts and a spaghetti strap top, sitting beneath a gorgeous cherry blossom tree on a wall on the patio outside the Student Union on the Storrs campus, reading and enjoying a cup of blueberry yogurt. I distinctly remember taking in the beauty of the blossoms, the day, the campus and truthfully, the joy of being young. 

In the U.S. cherry blossoms are most closely associated with Washington D. C. where they host an annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. The national flower of Japan, cherry blossom trees that line the East Potomac are some of a March 27, 1912 gift from Japan to the U.S. of 3,020 cherry blossom trees, representing a growing friendship between the two countries ~ though perhaps interrupted by WWII. With hostilities in the past, the gift was renewed in 1965 with another 3,800 trees. Here in Connecticut, the city of New Haven hosts an annual Cherry Blossom Festival celebrating 72 Yoshino Cherry Blossom trees planted there in 1973 ~ this year the event is slated for April 28. Most often cherry blossoms are light pink or white. They have a short season, at peak for a mere two weeks, before they begin falling to the ground. Symbolic of spring, renewal and nature they are a magnificent sight to behold. If you are inclined to sit under a cherry blossom tree ~ best not hesitate ~ the season of cherry blossoms is brief.

*revised