Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. It's like stepping into the clouds of a watercolor sunset, as a blizzard of pastel petals covers the ground with rosy snow.
Miles Schwartz-Sax, the assistant curator at the garden, told WBZ NewsRadio that there are more than 200 cherry trees, representing 29 different varieties, with branches of pink, rosy hues filling up an entire section of the living museum.
Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
The trees at the arboretum have been there since the late 1800s, imported from Japan. One example, Prunus sargentii, is named for the first director of the arboretum. The tree itself was planted 1928, almost a century ago. It is one of several cherry varieties named for important figures at the arboretum, who played a key role introducing the showy species into North American gardens and parks.
Schwartz-Sax added that peak cherry blossoms bloom only lasts 7 to 10 days.
“It’s a pretty ephemeral experience, so that’s one of the reasons why people come,” he continued. The arboretum has a wide variety of cherry trees that bloom at different times over a three-week period in the spring, but most of those blossoms are out now.
Every year, the arboretum welcomes thousands of visitors who wish to get a glimpse of an early sign of spring in the new year.
That’s because “cherry [blossoms] are one of the earliest flowerings of the flowering trees,” Schwartz-Sax said.
“They are always kind of the exclamation point that starts spring off,” Schwartz-Sax said.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.