FW: Breathtaking, Hassle-Free Cherry Blossom Viewing

**"* J* R* <l*@hevanet.com>**

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From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:14:21 -0500
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Breathtaking, Hassle-Free Cherry Blossom Viewing

STORY LEAD:
Arboretum Provides Breathtaking, Hassle-Free Cherry Blossom Viewing

___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Alfredo Flores, (301) 504-1627, aflores@ars.usda.gov
February 26, 2004
___________________________________________

Looking for an alternative to the overcrowded views of Washington,
D.C.'s famous display of cherry blossoms? Look no further than the
Agricultural Research Service's U.S. National Arboretum. The spring
exuberance begins there in late February, when Japanese apricots burst
into bloom.

The arboretum is located in northeast Washington, a few miles from the
Tidal Basin that draws 600,000 visitors each springtime. The arboretum
is an excellent venue for catching the Capital area's beautiful cherry
blossom display in a relaxed, crowd-free setting. Its collection
includes 135 cherry trees and 76 varieties on display.

In 1999, the arboretum released the cherry variety Dreamcatcher, a
25-foot-tall deciduous vase-shaped tree with dark-green foliage. Last
summer,  the arboretum released First Lady, a 25-foot-tall, upright tree
with dark pink, single, semi-pendulous flowers.

In 1912, Japan gave 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees to the United States as
a token of friendship. Today, only an estimated 125 of these trees are
still alive. Yoshino cherry trees live an average of 50 years, so the
few remaining original trees are at the end of their life expectancy. To
prevent loss of this historic plant germplasm, scientists from the
arboretum took cuttings from those cherries in 1997 and 1998. New trees
grown from them will help the National Park Service--which oversees the
Tidal Basin plantings--to maintain the genetic lineage of the original
trees.

In addition to the cherry blossoms, visitors to the arboretum in
springtime will find subtle woodland wildflowers along the paths in Fern
Valley, where unfurling fern fronds, trillium and bloodroot can be seen.
The fleeting flowers of Oconee bells are a special treat. Then will come
the blazing color of azaleas, in April and May.

All this--and the famed Japanese bonsai at the arboretum's National
Bonsai and Penjing Museum--are good reasons to visit the arboretum when
new leaves begin to clothe the bare branches of the thousands of
deciduous specimens in the collection.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.
___________________________________________

* This is one of the news reports that ARS Information distributes to
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