Top of page

In Bloom

Share this post:

Photo by Abby Brack Lewis

We’ve been on cherry blossom watch here at the Library, waiting for our 100-year-old cherry blossom trees to bloom. The grounds of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building are home to two of the original group of 3,020 Yoshino cherry trees given to Washington, D.C., in 1912, by the city of Tokyo as a symbol of friendship between Japan and the United States. And, these two beauties are among only nine remaining from that group.

Recently, one of the trees (pictured here), located at the corner of Independence Avenue and 2nd Street, was given a plaque to officially mark it as a commemorative tree.

Photo by Abby Brack Lewis

The Library commemorates the 100th anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossom trees with a webcast and an exhibition, “Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of Friendship,” which explores the origin of the donation, the significance of cherry blossoms in Japanese culture and the friendship between Japan and the U.S. as symbolized through the trees.

 

 

Add a Comment

This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our Comment and Posting Policy.


Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk.