Once again, I’ve been chasing cherry blossoms. This year I have given more attention to distinguishing different species of cherry trees. The number of hybrids is rather dizzying but I have been focusing on those that I have seen up close in the northeast United States.
In Boston, the Charles River Esplanade is great place to find cherry trees but I could only recognize some of the different trees. This photo shows one of the trees about which I was very uncertain. Having vaguely guessed it is a Mount Fuji Cherry, my photographs revealed a clue that sealed the deal. The leaves are not merely serrated, but it is exaggerated into projections that look like hairs. That is certainly a Mount Fuji.
That tree has now shed its blossoms. Right now the Kwanzan Cherry trees have bloomed and taken center stage. As a very popular ornamental tree, you can find them in many places in every northeastern state. And don’t forget the crabapple trees and flowering dogwoods which have also bloomed in the past week and are putting on a really colorful show!