Oh snap! Cold spring may make Botanic Garden’s cherry blossom festival unbe-leaf-able
Come for the Japanese culture, come back for the cherry blossoms.
Mother Nature (aka the Winter Soldier) is playing havoc with this weekend’s Sakura Matsuri, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s annual festival of 60 performances, demonstrations, music and exhibits celebrating traditional and modern Japanese culture that is typically timed to the “astonishing spring botanical display” of dozens of cherry trees in full flower.
Full flower, huh? The Brooklyn Eagle (hi, all!) stopped by the garden the other day and was shocked to find so few trees in bloom so close to the festival, whose press preview is Tuesday. Yes, a few prunus subhirtella “Pendula” trees around the lake were getting up to peak bloom. And a couple of fudan-zakura specimens were flowering nicely, though one was already past his (her? Its?) prime. But the three-dozen or so prunus “Kazans” that are described as the showiest trees in the collection were still wearing the floral equivalent of mittens and scarves. Sure, they’re typically the latest bloomers in the garden, but as a result of their tardiness, the so-called Cherry Esplanade looks more like a vineyard after harvest than the centerpiece of this weekend’s Cherry Blossom Festival.