March 29, 2025 - Front Row Seat

 

This bench at the Quad at the University of Washington bench has a prime view of the show the 29 Yoshino cherry trees put on each spring.  At 90 years old (60 years at this location), they've still got it!  Around campus are a number of earlier blooming, more colorful trees, but these are the ones that are the main attraction.

A sunrise on a mostly cloudy day isn't quite a sunrise is it?  This morning (7am) it was a choice between less color or more people.  And there will be a lot of people here this weekend!  

March 19, 2024 - Social Media and Sakura

 

The number of visitors to the cherry blossoms in the quad at the University of Washington has exploded.  Instagram started in October of 2010 and by 2018 had 1 billion users.  

The photo above was taken on a weekend of Spring Quarter of 1989.     

The photo below was taken this year during UW's Spring Break. On a Tuesday. At midday.  

March 27, 2022 - Spring is Pink Redux

 

The University of Washington cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the Quad was filled with admirers before 9am on a Sunday!  A 5k fun run that ended nearby added to the crowd.

A statue of George Washington (framed by 'Broken Obelisk'), Red Square and Drumheller Fountain completed the brief visit.

March 20, 2022 - Spring is Pink

 

A red umbrella stands out amongst the hundreds of people gathered under the gray skies taking in the  pink cherry blossoms on the UW campus.

April 6, 2021 - Arboretum Blossoms

This was a fine day to catch the early blooms at Washington Park Arboretum.  The 230 acre arboretum is arranged around thematic gardens (Azalea Way, Winter Garden, Rhododendron Glen, etc.) as well as by taxonomic group.  The Pacific Connections Garden is one of these thematic gardens.  It has plants from Cascadia, China, New Zealand and Chile. The 2.5 acre New Zealand Forest in that garden features 10,000 plants!  

The Puget Mill Company owned and logged this land until the late 1890s.  While it became Seattle Park in 1900 it was also home to a horse speedway and a sanitary landfill.(?!?!)  It was largely undeveloped until after the Arboretum was established in 1934.  Currently the Arboretum is jointly managed by the City of Seattle and the University of Washington.  

April 5, 2021 - Night Sakura

The thirty Yoshino cherry trees blossoming at the Quad on the University of Washington campus were planted at the Washington Arboretum in 1939.  They were relocated here when construction of the Evergreen Floating Bridge began.  These flowering cherries (sakura) are the same type of tree as those found at Tidal Basin Park in Washington, DC. 

The trees have been blooming every spring for decades, but the numbers of visitors that come to view the blossoms are a more recent development.  (Think: Social media.)  With the pandemic, people were asked to view the blossoms remotely or, if in person, to maintain good social distancing practices.  Visiting the sakura at night limits the number of people in your photos and there's no problem maintaining good social distancing practices.

 

March 17, 2016 - Quad in Bloom

It is spring on the University of Washington campus if the cherry trees in the Quad are in bloom.  And on this crisp sunny St. Patrick's Day, they are in bloom!  The number of blooms are only outnumbered by the number of admirers armed with cameras!


The trees were originally located near the Mountlake Bridge on the edge of campus but were moved to this more central location in 1962.

March 3, 2012 - Spring Blossoms

Cherry blossoms signal that spring is near!

February 18, 2010 - Pretty in Pink

What a beautiful Spring day! The cherry blossoms are out. The sun is out.

Sunny, mild weather is supposed to remain through the weekend.