Contemplating the Cherry Blossoms in Brooklyn, New York
For a few magic weeks every spring, Brooklyn’s Botanic Garden swells in a flush of pink and white when its cherry trees burst into heady bloom. The Garden hosts a Japanese culture festival the weekend the blooms are at their peak, with a full schedule of garden tours, music and dance performances, and handcraft classes. But most guests come just to stroll the Garden’s cherry esplanade, enjoying the trees’ pink garb for a brief few days until the blossoms finally fall.
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Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Escape Brooklyn's urban strife and step into the serene, surreal beauty of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Each spring, the garden's 220 cherry trees, many overlooking the picturesque Japanese Hill and Pond -- the first Japanese garden created in an American public garden -- are in full bloom. To celebrate this annual flowering, in May the BBG hosts the weekend-long Cherry Blossom Festival, known in Japanese as Sakura Matsuri. During the festival, visitors enjoy more than 60 events celebrating Japanese culture including traditional and pop Japanese music, dance, taiko drumming, martial arts, bonsai pruning workshops, tea ceremonies, and Japanese Manga art.
On this three and a half-acre bastion of serenity in the middle of Brooklyn, every hill and tree and leaf is imbued with meaning. A leaf floating in the breeze is not just a leaf but a reminder of the transitory nature of life. The island in the middle of the pond doesn't resemble a turtle just for cuteness' sake; it's shaped that way to represent longevity, just as the bold vermillion torii gate rising from the water symbolizes that essential life essence, light. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden has changed little since it was constructed nearly a century ago as the first American Japanese garden; yet new visitors still find its quiet majesty and deep symbolism captivating and refreshing.
For a few magic weeks every spring, Brooklyn’s Botanic Garden swells in a flush of pink and white when its cherry trees burst into heady bloom. The Garden hosts a Japanese culture festival the weekend the blooms are at their peak, with a full schedule of garden tours, music and dance performances, and handcraft classes. But most guests come just to stroll the Garden’s cherry esplanade, enjoying the trees’ pink garb for a brief few days until the blossoms finally fall.
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