APRIL 10, 2024:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Japan is giving the United States 250 new cherry trees to help replace the hundreds that are being ripped out this summer as construction crews work to repair the crumbling seawall around the capital’s Tidal Basin.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the announcement as President Joe Biden welcomed him to the White House on Wednesday (April 10, 2024) for an official visit and state dinner. Biden said the gift is meant to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. in 2026, adding, “Like our friendship, these trees are timeless, inspiring and thriving.”
In 1912, first lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador to the United States, planted two Yoshino cherry trees on the northern bank of the Potomac River’s Tidal Basin. They were part of the 3,000 such trees Japan gave the U.S. in a symbol of the two countries’ friendship.
The trees blossom in brilliant pinks and reds each spring and draw more than 1 million visitors to Washington. The aesthetics of the nation’s capital aside, the latest gift reflects the geopolitical alliance between Biden and Kishida as they hold talks on the delicate security situation in the Pacific. The state dinner is designed to celebrate one of Biden’s strongest allies.
Senior administration officials noted on a call with reporters that the two most important gifts that foreign countries have given the United States are arguably the Statue of Liberty — which came from the French and was dedicated in 1886 — and Japan’s cherry trees in Washington.
The Tidal Basin is a 107-acre manmade reservoir bordering the Jefferson Memorial that is home to the highest concentration of cherry blossom trees. The senior officials said that when the Japanese learned that some of the trees would be felled due to the construction work, they immediately offered to provide saplings when the time was right.
“I am confident that the cherry blossomlike bond of the Japan-U.S. alliance will continue to grow even thicker and stronger, in the Indo-Pacific and in all corners of the world,” Kishida said.
Biden, in his remarks, passed up a chance to mention Stumpy, the gnarled and hollow old cherry tree that stands on the Tidal Basin’s south bank. Stumpy frequently becomes submerged in flood waters from the Potomac and has become a social media phenom. It is set to be removed as part of the $133 million, three-year improvement project to rebuild and reinforce the sea wall.
Biden said that he and his wife, Jill Biden, strolled the White House lawn on Tuesday evening with the prime minister and his wife, Yuko Kishida, to visit three cherry trees. One of them was planted by the first ladies last year and the other two are part of the new round of saplings.
“Every spring, cherry blossoms bloom across this city, thanks to a gift from Japan of 3,000 cherry trees over a century ago,” Biden said. “People travel from all over our country and the world to see these magnificent blossoms.”
MARCH 23, 2024:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sun is setting on Stumpy, the gnarled old cherry tree that has become a social media phenom. This year’s cherry blossom festivities in Washington will be the last for Stumpy and more than 100 other cherry trees that will be cut down as part of a multiyear restoration of their Tidal Basin home.
Starting in early summer, crews will begin working to replace the crumbling seawall around the Tidal Basin, the area around the Jefferson Memorial with the highest concentration of cherry trees. The work has been long overdue, as the deterioration, combined with rising sea levels, has resulted in Potomac waters regularly surging over the barriers.
The twice-daily floods at high tide not only cover some of the pedestrian paths, they also regularly soak some of the cherry trees’ roots. The $133 million project to rebuild and reinforce the sea wall will take about three years, said Mike Litterst, National Park Service spokesman for the National Mall.
“It’s certainly going to benefit the visitor experience, and that’s very important to us,” Litterst said. “But most of all, it’s going to benefit the cherry trees, who right now are every day, twice a day, seeing their roots inundated with the brackish water of the Tidal Basin.” Litterst said entire stretches of trees to the water, as wide as 100 yards, or 90 meters, have been lost and can’t be replaced “until we fix the underlying cause of what killed them in the first place.”
Stumpy remains alive, if in rough shape.
Plans call for 140 cherry trees — and 300 trees total — to be removed and turned into mulch. When the project is concluded, 277 cherry trees will be planted as replacements.
The mulch will protect the roots of surviving trees from foot traffic and break down over time into nutrient-rich soil, “so it’s a good second life” for the trees being cut down, Litterst said.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is widely considered to be the start of the tourist season in the nation’s capital. Organizers expect 1.5 million people to view the pink and white blossoms this year, the most since the pandemic. Already, large numbers of cherry blossom fans are being drawn to the area as the trees approach peak bloom.
Stumpy became a social media star during the pandemic fever dream of 2020. Its legacy has spawned T-shirts, a calendar and a fanbase. News of Stumpy’s final spring has prompted people to leave flowers and bourbon and had one Reddit user threatening to chain themselves to the trunk to save the tree.
The good news on Stumpy is that the National Arboretum plans to take parts of the tree’s genetic material and create clones, some of which will eventually be replanted at the Tidal Basin.
The regular flooding at the Tidal Basin — sea levels have risen about a foot since the the seawall was built in the early 1990s — is just one of the ways climate change has impacted the cherry trees. Rising global temperatures and warmer winters have caused peak bloom to creep earlier in the calendar.
This year’s peak bloom, when 70% of the city’s 3,700 cherry trees will be flowering, should start between Saturday and Tuesday. By comparison, the 2013 peak bloom began on April 9. Leslie Frattaroli, national resources program manager for the Park Service, told The Associated Press in February that peak bloom could come in the middle of March by 2050.
“All the timing is off.” he said. “It’s a huge cascading effect.”
Another weather side effect: A mid-March cold snap in the D.C. area should actually extend this year’s bloom past the predicted April 9 ending.
For visitors and cherry blossom enthusiasts, the annual tradition of a stroll on the Tidal Basin under the flowers is a core Washington experience.
Jorge and Sandra Perez make a point of coming every year from Stafford, Virginia.
“Yes, we have cherry blossoms in my community, but it’s a completely different feel when you see all of them bloom together,” Sandra said. “And you can walk through, you know, the trees under it and smell it. And it’s just it’s a beautiful view.”
They also came looking for Stumpy, having heard the legend and knowing this would be its final spring.
“It’s actually beautiful,” Jorge said. “So it’s sad to see him leave.”
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