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from the reader to aozora: |
To aozora:
Re: Sakura-Hanami
Does anyone keep track of when the sakura will bloom in Central Park, the
way they keep track in Japan? Is there any way to find out so that we can
schedule our hanami parties?
Jonathan
New York
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Dear Jonathan:
Yes. It's the Hanami season. I konw there are a lot of good
spots for Hanami in Central Park, but I don't think they
keep track of the blossoms there.
However, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden they do keep track of the blooming
of their Sakura. They have a special map of the 250 Sakura trees in their
park called "CherryWatch Blossom Status Map" (http://www.bbg.org/exp/cherrywatch/map.html). They
categorized the status of the cherry blossoms in four stages, Pre-Bloom,
First-Bloom, Peak-Bloom and Post-Peak. According to that map, as of April
20th, half of the trees are still in Pre-Bloom.
As they host annual Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) on April 30th
and May 1st, I suspect that peak blooming season for the Sakura in New
York area would be around that weekend.
When I went to Roosvelt Island last weekend, half of the sakura blossoms
at the south side of the island were at their peak blossom, and north
side the sakura were still
in pre-bloom. I think this was because different types of sakura
bloom different time of the season. Since New York has so many different
types of
sakura trees, even in the same park, I think you will be able to
enjoy Hanami at the different spot at dfferent time of the season.
But, personally I think this weekend (23rd & 24th) will be the best
time to do Hanami parties since this week has been so warm and
I think by now all of the sakura konw that spring has come.
Happy hanami!
Hina
Editor, aozoraNY.com
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