Tutus in the trees

I set off yesterday morning in search of Yoshino flowering cherries (Prunus x yedoensis), the type celebrated in the other Washington, and famed also on the University of Washington campus. I knew that they were at their peak the previous week, and hoped to get some pictures in better focus than my two fuzzy previous attempts that were more reminiscent of claims of Bigfoot documentation than nature photography.

Something about standing under a dense blossom canopy of flowering cherries feels like walking in clouds. No wonder that cherry blossom time inspires festivals.

It rained earlier today, and in typical Seattle fashion, the sun now graced us through shifting blue windows. The five-petalled flowers hang in clusters like a swarm of ballet dancers in tutus. They are the shyest pink, made all the more fetching by sun-shimmered raindrops still clinging to them. The exquisitely blue sky, peeking through branches, sets them off perfectly. (Here in Seattle, where we see the sky so rarely, when

the clouds break I’m awed by what an absolutely gorgeous color Earth’s sky is.)

Yoshino flowering cherry (Prunus x yedoensis)

Recently, I found that thinking about the beauty, the constancy, the dependable sequencing of the spring parade of flowering trees is better than counting sheep. A few nights ago, I was stressing about something, feeling like an overwound spring. I imagined gazing up into a canopy of flowering cherries, then remembered seeing saucer magnolias (Magnolia x soulangeana) newly in bloom, and that the pure white Mt. Fuji flowering cherries (Prunus serrulata ‘Shirotae’) were poised for their glory. Suddenly, I realized I was smiling and my breathing was deep and even, and I happily drifted off to sleep.

Saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana)

Mt. Fuji flowering cherry (Prunus serrulata 'Shirotae')