The cherry blossoms' peak bloom in Washington, D.C., is approaching, with their presence painting the Tidal Basin in shades of pink and white.
As crowds descend upon the nation's capital to witness the trees' full beauty during the National Cherry Blossom Festival, they will also be gazing upon history itself.
"Some of these trees ... they're more than a hundred years old," Diana Mayhew, president and CEO of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, told NPR on Sunday. "Some of the original trees are still here."
A gift of friendship from the people of Japan to the United States in 1912, the trees' annual bloom is expected to draw more than one million people this year, Mayhew said. Celebrations began on Friday and will continue through April 12.
The cherry blossom trees are expected to reach peak bloom, when more than 70% of blooms are open, between March 29 and April 1, the National Park Service (NPS) says.
From Japan to the U.S.
Their journey to the U.S. stems from journalist and writer Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore's 1885 proposal that the trees be planted along the Potomac waterfront one day, according to the NPS.
After 24 years of persistence, Scidmore's idea was finally accepted. In 1909, then-first lady Helen Taft agreed to accept 2,000 donated cherry blossom trees. When the trees arrived in the U.S. in 1910, it was discovered that they were infested with insects and were diseased, so they were burned to protect America's agriculture, the NPS also said. But then Tokyo's mayor, Yukio Ozaki, along with others, suggested another donation of trees be made to the U.S. — this time 3,020.
"It was just a symbol of this beauty and renewal and hope," Mayhew said. "The mayor felt this was the appropriate gift to continue to show their friendship, but the others basically just fell in love with the beauty and the feeling that they got by looking at those cherry trees."
The 3,020 Japanese cherry blossom trees of 12 different varieties arrived in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 1912. Twenty were planted at the White House. Two Yoshino cherry blossom trees were planted by first lady Taft and Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of Japanese Ambassador Chinda Sutemi, on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin near Independence Avenue, SW.
As a thank you gift to Japan, then-President William Howard Taft sent at least 50 dogwood trees to the country in return.
The first festival-like celebration occurred in 1927, when a group of school children reenacted the first tree planting, Mayhew said. The springtime Cherry Blossom Festival began in 1935.
Celebrations of the trees were paused during World War II. After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, some of the trees were cut down by unknown people and vandalized, with one tree marked "To Hell With the Japanese," according to the NPS.
But festivals resumed after the war, in 1948.
A symbolic display of U.S.-Japanese friendship today
President Trump has praised the cherry blossom trees, saying last week during a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi they are "a living symbol of the cherished friendships between two of our world's most extraordinary nations."
He also said the U.S. is honored to receive 250 more cherry blossom trees from Japan for America's 250th birthday. Japan's embassy to the U.S. announced the gift earlier this year.
"They will remind every future generation of our timeless bond," Trump said during the dinner, adding that the trees will be planted near and around the Washington Monument.
Takaichi acknowledged the relationship between the U.S. and Japan, saying "in Washington, Japanese cherry blossoms have long heralded the arrival of spring and embodied the history of Japan-U.S. friendship."
Mayhew from the National Cherry Blossom Festival hopes that by engaging younger generations, understanding of the cherry blossoms' importance will help the annual celebration continue for years to come. She also notes the importance of financial support for the NPS, which cares for the trees.
"It's about people owning the trees, taking care of the trees while they're here, not trying to pick them, not pulling the branches down, not climbing the trees while they're trying to take a picture," Mayhew said. "It's not just here for tourists, it is here for our community."
Copyright 2026 NPR
