Traveling Boy: Dette Pascual: The Cherry Blossoms of Washington D.C.

Dette Pascual: Wahington D.C.

Washington Monument and cherry trees in bloom The iconic Washington Monument surrounded by cherry trees.

Dateline: The Cherry Blossoms
of Washington D.C.
By Dette Pascual

y husband and I flew from Arizona to Washington D.C. second week of April to catch up with the cherry blossom season. TV images of pink and white blossoms swaying in the trees around the Washington Mall was calling to us. But when we arrived, the delicate blossoms were almost gone, due to strong winds, left over from the winter season. To assuage our disappointment, our daughter in-law, Patrice, drove us to nearby Kenwood in Maryland. We caught some trees still in bloom and had the luxury of going through a canopy of flowers. What mattered more for us, though, was her kind understanding of our wish to see the blossoms. That really made it a day more than lovely.

Another daughter, Gig, told us that there were enough trees around the Potomac Tidal Basin that had blooms left. What was so delightful was the way the trees were planted to reflect upon the waters. Gazing at the waters was like being inside an inverted cup of flowers.

What makes the cherry blossoms of Washington D.C. so special? They were sent as a gift of friendship from the Japanese people to the people of United States in March 27, 1912. The sight of 3,020 blooming cherry trees, scattered around the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, towards the East Potomac Park is a feast for the senses.

Through past visits, I realized what drew me again and again to this sight of cherry blossoms. It is the feeling that decades ago, this place was created when the world was a gentler place; when people had the time and leisure to appreciate planting flowers together. They said that the planting ceremony in 1912 included First Lady Helen Taft and Vice Countess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador.

World War 2 memorial, Washington DC World War 2 Memorial view from Washington Monument. Photo Courtesy: Richard Latoff

Now the trees bring a shower of pink petals as the breezes of April whistles through. I am sure the heroes in the memorials around the area: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, veterans of World War II, Vietnam Wars, etc., look down content on a world transformed. At least for the seasons of blooming, they can forget the wars that they knew.

To the Japanese, cherry blossoms are the symbol of the evanescence of human life. Is it perhaps because the blossoms do not stay longer than a few weeks? That they whisk away lightly on the breeze at the whisper of the winds? Yet, while they are around, what poetry these blossoms bring. Thus like a poem, when they leave, they have reminded you of how fleeting life is, and how fragile. This symbol of evanescence, the Japanese have gifted the U.S.

We live in a world that rapidly changes. Nations who are friends today can be enemies tomorrow. Alliances falter in the face of economic stresses and different ideologies. Wars are sown by poverty, hunger, ignorance, greed, mistrust, etc. How fitting then, that in Washington D.C., the capitol of the U.S., the arrival of the cherry blossoms is celebrated. The spring festival is a reminder of a friendship formed decades ago and continues to this day, despite the intervention of a cruel war in-between.

How so much more harmonious this world could be if nations exchanged plants instead of bullets. Life could be more fruitful without the interruption of violent conflicts. Or, at least, despite the interruption of a war, the plants survive. Nations can be richer by understanding how each country develops its own seeds. Friendships can be tended like plants rooted in the earth. Winters come and plants burrow underground. But we should realize that they are down there and not uproot them. Then, when the seasons for blooming come, the plants emerge, lovely as ever. Everyone celebrates.

cherry blossoms along the Potomac

I may be a Pollyanna by the way I am viewing a pink and white world. But who can fault me after breathing in the faint fragrance of cherry blossoms caught in my hair? dette@travelingboy.com

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Let Dette know what you think about her traveling adventure.

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Hi ...I was surfing the net looking for leads to Blanche Gallardo and found your interesting piece on the Cherry Blossoms of Wash. DC. It seems that the original idea for flowering trees in the capital came from Mrs. Taft herself ...who reportedly missed the sight of the annual blossom display of similar trees when her husband was stationed in Manila as governor general. My scholarship is in Manila's urban history and the only possible strand of showy trees then would have been either the wonderful acacias (samanea saman) on what eventually became Taft Ave. or the fire trees (delonix regia) on P. Burgos leading from the old Plaza Lawton to Luneta and the Manila Hotel - this was the route that Mrs. Taft would have taken for late afternoon paseos at the Luneta.

Cheers,

--- Paulo Alcazaren , Manila, Philippines

Your article was an appeal to my senses. How romantic! After I've read your article, I remember the beautiful cherry blossoms in the movies Memoirs of a Geisha and of course The Last Samurai.

--- Elsie, Iligan, Philippines

What a feast for the senses indeed! Wish you could do the same thing about autumn in Canada.

--- Aida, Toronto, ON

Yep. Pollyanna you might be but I couldn't agree with you more about "How so much more harmonious this world could be if nations exchanged plants instead of bullets." I say amen to this!

--- Blanche Gallardo, Manila, Philippines

Words give life to pictures. You do it so well! Thanks.

--- Tina, Hagerstown, MD

Dear Dette,

I enjoyed reading your articles, especially the philosophical musings.

--- Dading, Washington D.C.

Dear Dette,

Your articles make me feel good about life. I enjoy reading them and look forward for more.

--- Arabella, Maryland

Dear Dette,

Thanks for your fascinating article about the dolphins. You raise a thought-provoking question about how they got to drift to that unusual part of the Pacific Ocean. Certainly raises serious questions about environmental factors that may be the cause. I just read last night some stats -- one claiming that human consumption and lifestyle impact the ecological environment resulting presently in the demise of other living forms about 1000 more times than the recorded average. That's a pretty astounding estimate !! In my RP [Republic of the Philippines] visit in 2000, I went to Mindoro and observed -- to one's dismay -- that non-biogradable items such as the common plastic containers and the like that we use and generally throw away anywhere, not to mention real toxic industrial and medical waste, end up in the shore of that beautiful seaside barrio of about 400 families, ruining not only the view but the life of several sea-based creatures, including whatever edible fish and seafood that the barrio thrives by. Obviously, the small population could not have consumed that vast amount of plastic, etc. It turned out, I was to learn, that the waste comes from tthe garbage dumps of urban parts as far as heavily populated Manila, as well as the garbage dumped by passenger vessels that ply the inter-island routes --- with, obviously, no regulatory disposal systems.

--- Rita, Virginia

Stay tuned.