Cherry Blossoms

The spring season is truly the best and most beautiful time to visit Washington, DC, and one that is not to be missed… especially during the cherry blossom flowering.
During this season, the most famous and popular activity is the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival runs for two weeks, usually from March 31st until April 15th, but only Mother Nature decides when the beautiful pink and white cherry trees will flourish, reason why the festival sometimes fails to be celebrated during the peak of the cherry blooms.
The festival started in 1935 as a tribute to the more than 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees, given to the United States capital as a friendship gift by the Japanese government back in 1912. These trees were planted all around the Tidal Basin section of the West Potomac Park.
The Yoshino cherry tree is known for its attractive and gently fragrant white to pale pink flowering. The trees are native to Japan, Korea, and China (in these countries, the blooming of cherry blossom trees signal the coming of spring), but have adapted well to the southern U.S.
The flowers are susceptible to heavy wind and rain, which is frequent in the DC area during this season. It’s best to view the trees early in the blossoming process, as a strong wind can cause the blossoms to be damaged or to be blown off.
I took a trip to DC last year around spring season while visiting a friend. I took the pictures below just a week before Cherry Blossom Festival. Pretty much any location was picture perfect… it’s truly a photographer’s wonderland.
The viewing of the Cherry Blossoms is definitely worth the trip, so I’ll let my photos do the talking.






The architecture of the area is also very interesting. You can find structures of many different styles: