Hanami at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Prunus 'Okame' in bloom yesterday afternoon, along the Cherry Walk and adjacent to the Cherry Esplanade at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.


Tomorrow, Saturday, April 5, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden kicks off its annual Hanami, the cherry blossom season:

Hanami is the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing and cherishing each moment of the cherry blossom season. At Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Hanami is a New York City "rite of spring."

Visitors can stroll under a canopy of cherry trees, view artwork inspired by cherry blossoms in the Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery, savor special Japanese entrees at the Terrace Café, and browse a special Hanami Shop.

Hanami runs through May 11, culminating in a celebratory crescendo with Sakura Matsui on May 3 and 4.

Here's a detail of Okame's flower:



Here's how the tree looks, peaking through the other cherries, still in bud. One of the entrances to the Japanese Garden is along the path sloping down on the left.



This is Prunus sargentii 'Fudansakura', blooming just northeast of the Cherry Esplanade, near the northern entrance to the Cherry Walk.





There's another beautiful specimen in full bloom within the Japanese Garden, here viewed from the other side of the fence.



BBG updates its CherryWatch Blossom Status Map weekly. Only a handful are in peak bloom right now. Most are still in bud and haven't yet started blooming. But a few warm days, especially sunny ones, will change that quickly.



Here's the flower of Accolade, shown on the map above. I could have lightened this image up a bit, but it was a cold, overcast day, threatening rain. The dark tones reflect the feeling of the afternoon when I visited.



The rain will stop by Saturday afternoon. Sunday will be a good day for Hanami! It's also BBG Members' Forsythia Day on Sunday. I'll be there to pick up my Forsythia and my signature plants.

Related Posts

Introducing the BBG Hanami Flickr Group, April 3, 2008

Links

Flowering Cherries at BBG
BBG's new Hanami Flickr group