'God's way of smiling at us': Iconic DC cherry blossoms create lasting joy, new beginnings
WASHINGTON – Gabrielle Cardenas woke up at 2 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, put on a glittery, pink, puffy dress and drove 50 minutes with her family to capture a perfect moment.
The Potomac, Maryland, native’s quinceañera isn’t until mid-May, but she was intent on taking photos for her 15th birthday celebration during the few days when cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin of the nation's capital reach peak bloom.
"I really love this dress with the pink," Cardenas said after a marathon photo session that lasted until 8:30 in the morning. "I thought that it would go so nicely with the cherry blossoms."
She is among the millions of people each year who trek to the area around the Thomas Jefferson Memorial between late March and the beginning of April to marvel at the bursting cherry trees lining the water.
Many, like Cardenas, plan pivotal life events around the fleeting and finicky peak bloom period when more than 70% of the flowers are open and the area is awash in a pink glow.
The sprouting flowers mark the start of the city’s Cherry Blossom Festival, a grand four-week event designed to welcome the arrival of spring. The trees, donated to the United States by Japan as a gesture of friendship more than a century ago, have become a premier tourist attraction.
Though cherry blossoms emerge across the country during this time every year, the ones that dot the nation's capital are by far the most popular. In a city known for its turbulent national politics, Mike Litterst, a spokesperson for the National Mall and Memorial Parks, said the cherry blossoms offer hope for locals and tourists alike.
"For those seven to 10 days, there's no blue, there's no red," Litterst said. "Everything in town is pink."
A 'new beginning'
Stand along the Tidal Basin for a few moments during peak bloom and you're bound to spot a student taking graduation photos, a couple posing for an engagement shoot, or a bride dragging her dress through the mud with a photographer in tow.
The cherry blossoms were top on Madeline Ducharme's mind this year as she racked her brain for ways to propose to her longtime girlfriend, Arika Thames. The couple met on a dating app more than five years ago and within 24 hours were on their first date.
When they biked to see the blossoms for the first time together one morning in 2021, Ducharme said, she had never seen so many people awake and "having a good time" so early in the morning.
As Ducharme considered where to propose, she couldn't stop thinking about the joy and unpredictability of the cherry blossoms.
"Nature doesn't keep time with whatever is convenient to our schedules," Ducharme said. "It's going to happen when it happens, and you can either be there or not. ... That just feels special to me."
Most of the white and pink flowers had not emerged when she got down on one knee in mid-March, but Duchamere believes that was for the best. The moment, she said, felt "sought-after and rare."
Diana Mayhew has received countless calls from people asking for help planning surprises for their loved ones during her 25 years as executive director of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. She believes people are drawn to the flowers because they represent renewal.
A famous cherry tree in DC was uprooted. Its clones help keep legacy alive.
That was the case for Tyler Maschal, 31, who chose the burgeoning cherry trees at the National Arboretum to pop the question to his girlfriend, Courtney Port, of four years.
They met at a Cody Johnson concert while he was stationed in Fort Worth, Texas, and she lived in Houston. After dating long-distance, they moved to Maryland about a year ago. Maschal said Port, 28, was most excited about the blossoms.
The day he proposed underneath a weeping cherry tree, Port wore a white dress with pink flowers. The setting, she said, symbolized their "new beginning."
"You get flowers for happy moments. You get flowers for weddings, and you give flowers or funerals to make people smile," Port said. "After the winter, the trees blooming is just like, maybe God's way of smiling at us."
'Something we can be proud of'
For many people living near the nation's capital, seeing the cherry blossoms is an annual spring tradition.
Four years ago, Sophia Boyer persuaded a few of her friends to get up around 5:30 in the morning to see the flowers in all their glory during their freshman year at George Washington University. They've come at least two mornings each year since then.
Boyer always wears her white dress covered with light pink flowers and matching dangly cherry blossom earrings. After their loop around the trees, she, Nadia Primer and Andres Sada head to Compass Coffee nearby for a pastel pink cherry blossom latte.
"The commitment to being excited and happy about something is so wonderful. I want to, like, embrace that wholeheartedly," Boyer said.
Primer, 21, admitted that she and Sada "were haters" the first year but have since realized the lack of sleep is "worth it."
"It’s D.C. pride," the Miami native said, explaining that the joy extends beyond the Tidal Basin. "We have a lot of bad news coming out of here like, every day, but this is something we can be proud of."
The pride permeates the city, from the white-arched Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge that lights up in pink for a few days during the festivities to Metro stations where riders can purchase special-edition cherry blossom fare cards and ride on trains wrapped in pictures of the flowers.
Those who admire the blossoms can donate and adopt a tree to help the National Mall protect their beauty for future generations, Mayhew said.
Sally Sterling, who doesn’t consider herself a "pink person," said even she gets giddy during the festivities.
One morning each spring for more than a decade, Sterling has watched the sun rise over the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
This year, she plans to exchange photos with a friend who is visiting Japan during its cherry blossom season.
Asked about why she keeps up the tradition, Sterling said it’s about watching "people naturally coming together for the beauty of spring."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Washington DC cherry blossoms bring lasting hope and joy to the nation
