For all readers who love cherry blossoms, dango, camaraderie, sake and hanami in general, please let everyone know if the sakura (cherry blossoms) are blooming in your neighborhood! Where you live doesn’t matter; Canada, Europe, South America, Hanami Central (Japan), wherever there’s sakura, post a comment below to update fellow hanami fans.
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Update people on the stages of the cherry blossoms by posting:
- Budding (about to bloom)
- Blossoming (are already blooming)
- Peak (all the blossoms are open)
- Post Peak (blossoms are half gone)
- Done (blossoms have all fallen)
Here in the St. Louis area, the forecast for blooming is April 5. If the weather grows warmer, the blossoms will open earlier, but for now, keep your eyes open for the weekend of the 5th. And remember St. Louis natives: If you live in St. Louis City or St. Louis County, flash your ID with your area code on it and get into the Missouri Botanical Gardens free on Wednesdays and Saturdays before noon!
What’s the story on the sakura where you’re at? Do you even have any cherry blossoms in your area? What are you planning to do for hanami this year? What eats are you going to make and how are you going to celebrate this beautiful time of the year?
The National Cherry Blossom Festival began last Saturday in Washington DC. Apparently it’s timed during the beginning of blossoming, since when I went there on Sunday, the majority of cherry blossom trees are already blooming. It lasts till April 13th. I didn’t really spend much time stopping to watch the flowers, but I walked around the Tidal Basin, where the trees surrounded the edge.
In Los Angeles, the blossoms have been done for quite a while. The ones we have out here bloom close to early March normally.
I visited the Missouri Botanical Garden today and spoke with someone about the sakura blooming. The new date for St. Louis’s blossoms is for next weekend, the 11th of April.
Went to MoBot today and the weeping cherries are just about to peak. The other cherry trees are opening but won’t peak until this weekend, the 11th-12th. None of the blossoms have started falling yet. That’s my fave time of the season; the time when the blossoms rain down and the trees are still full.