by James Alexander-Sinclair
The country is awash with cherry blossom. From wild cherries in spinneys to extravagant garden displays.
The country is awash with cherry blossom. From wild cherries in spinneys to extravagant garden displays. It's such a brief moment that we should grasp it with both hands, for soon there'll be nothing left but scattered petals lying like spilt confetti.
The Japanese have always taken cherry blossom very seriously. It began in the eighth century when Emperors (accompanied by poets, singers and assorted liggers) would gather beneath a tree to celebrate its blossom. Today there's still a great interest in 'flower viewing" (hanami, in Japanese), with special alerts on television to tell people where the trees are flowering. As in this country, flowering begins earlier in the warmer south and slowly tracks northwards.
There's a great deal of symbolism in the whole thing. The blossom represents female beauty and love (which is pretty obvious given the delicacy of the flowers) but also the fleeting nature of both beauty and life. I told you they took it very seriously.
There are so many types of blossom to choose from that it all gets a bit confusing. But my top five at the moment are:
One thing you should be aware of, as I mentioned, is the length of the flowering season. Like the lives of James Dean or Tupac Shakur, it's short and spectacular. Thereafter, the leaves can be a bit dull and cast a lot of dry shade, so be wary of planting cherries as the sole centrepiece in a small garden. Plant small trees instead.
There are great collections of cherries at the Batsford Arboretum in the Cotswolds and Hergest Croft in Herefordshire.
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