Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the planting of the famous flowering cherries surrounding the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. Flowering cherries have long been a captivating presence in Japan and throughout the U.S. since their introduction 100 years ago. Although the Tidal Basin plantings seem like a single instance in time, the interest in flowering cherries in the early 1900s was widespread and these plants came into America through a number of different sources. Along with the famous plantings in Washington, there is a long history of growing flowering cherries in Philadelphia. In this Tuesday March 26 lecture in the Weld Hill Research Building at the Arnold Arboretum, Tony Aiello will discuss the introduction of flowering cherries into the U.S. and will focus on their history in Philadelphia. Along with his interest in the history of cultivation of flowering cherries, Mr. Aiello has been using the Arboretum’s cherry collection as a model for preserving our horticultural heritage and at the same time providing best practices of veteran tree care. He has been working with other botanic gardens in the Northeast to identify, propagate, and share rare varieties of flowering cherries. Free, but registration requested at www.arboretum.harvard.edu. The speaker is the Gayle E. Maloney Director of Horticulture and Curator, Morris Arboretum, University of Pennsylvania. Beautiful photo from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
