Consider: The Cherry Blossom
The newsletter that is the cherry on your weekend Sunday (well, Saturday)
Living in a country that is still experiencing lockdown, one of the few possible daily rituals is a walk/run around the neighbourhood. At this time of the year, it is an explosion of flowers.
I am fortunate enough to have a couple of Cherry Blossom trees in my neighbourhood. They have the most incredible flower canopies when they bloom; dense coverage of beautiful small flowers in pink or white. Thinking about the history of Sumo Orange trees and knowing about the legacy of Japan gifting trees to other countries, it felt worthy of an exploration. Turns out that the history of Cherry Blossom Trees do not disappoint.
BIG thanks to newsletter friend Barb Simkova, for sharing some of her incredible photos of the 2021 Cherry Blossom season in Toronto. You can see more of her incredible work on her site.
An analysis of Cherry Blossoms tie in classic debates of form vs function (why can we never have both?), the healing power of nature, and al fresco dining!
Design
As someone who can (almost) eat my weight in cherries in a season, I have been attracted to urban fruit picking efforts like “Not Far From the Tree.” Present in many cities, these not for profit organizations recruit volunteers to harvest fruit trees where the home owners are either not able or not willing to do so themselves. The bounty is divided 1/3 each to the tree owner, the volunteers and local food banks.
Two years ago I started tracking the local fruit tree blossoms to then pitch tree owners on the idea of allowing me to pick their fruit. Turns out that Cherry Blossom trees do not produce cherries… news to me! Flower production and fruit consumption are both intensive tree chores, so trees will generally do one or the other. While Cherry Blossom Trees and Cherry Fruit Trees come from the same ancestor, over the past centuries, breeders have gradually indexed entirely for one or the other. Form or function, the classic battle! There are ~400 cultivar (cultivated varieties) of Cherry Trees and ~600 cultivars of blossoming Cherry Trees. The blossom itself is called “Sakura.”
To make it less confusing, we will use Sakura to describe the Cherry Blossom trees and Cherry Trees to describe the fruiting varieties.
Some species of Sakura can live for thousands of years. There are trees in Japan that are over 2,000 years old. We know all of this because of the work of Toshio Katsuki. I could not find out much about the intrepid botanist himself, but he authored the most cited texts on the topic, including: Illustrated Reference Book of Nature: Japan’s Sakura, Sakura, and Sakura no kagaku (The Science of Sakura).
Monks and others began experimenting with breeding and cross breeding, which led to the creation of the Kanzan, a double flowered version, which looks like multiple flowers nested within each other. These double flowered types became increasingly popular in urban centres because of their ability to withstand changes in weather and their cool looking flowers.
Surprisingly, Cherry Blossoms were largely an urban phenomenon in Japan. As cities expanded, many of the trees were cut down and lost. Throughout the country, gardeners would harvest cultivars and create multi-variety gardens that have since survived and are the basis for continued experimentation and transplanting.
At first, I was dismayed that they bred the deliciousness out of these trees (I really like cherries!). But there is something interesting about the active cultivation of natural beauty and people deciding to put hundreds of years of work into making something more beautiful and less functional.
Also, late breaking news: the leaves are edible and used to flavour classic desserts and drinks in Japan. Maybe we CAN have it all?
Innovation
Beauty can serve a function in a sense. In Japan, the concept is called Hanami or literally “Flower Viewing”. It began in 710 with plum blossoms (Ume) and over the next 100 years, transitioned to Sakura.
Japan is also famous for popularizing Shirin Yoku (forest bathing). There are whole institutes devoted to forest bathing/forest therapy. Shirin Yoku means “‘spending quality time, under the canopy of trees, in a forest, for health and wellbeing purposes.” While traditionally this meant just spending time in nature, the scholarly research suggests there might be some science to it. Professor Suzanne Simard of UBC has popularized the term “Wood Wide Web” to talk about the interface of life in a forest and the benefits each participant in that ecosystem receives.
Spending time in nature is not an exclusively Japanese construct. Many cultures have their own takes on restorative and healing powers of nature, largely informed by local fauna. In Norway, it’s called Friluftsliv. In Canada, we call it “heading out for a rip.”What makes Hanami (flower viewing) particularly interesting is its social component. It is about spending time with others in nature. Hanami usually involves eating and drinking and can take place at all hours of the day or night. After all the time we have spent alone over the past 18 months, I don’t think I am the only one looking forward to the healing power of being with friends (or even just other people) in nature (or anywhere, for that matter).
Sustainability
Sakura are often gifted by Japan or Japanese organizations. Amsterdam received 400 from the Japan Women’s Club in 2000. Japan gifted the US 3,000 trees in 1912, which ended up being planted in DC and giving the city its renowned festival. Rome, Helsinki, Stokholm, the list goes on.
Macon, Georgia ended up with 350,000 trees! I reached out to the Macon Cherry Festival and Macon City Hall and all I could learn was that in 1949 William A. Fickling Sr. found a blossom in his yard, thought it was cool and his family gave cuttings away to anyone who wanted… and then there were 350,000 trees. If you live in Macon, you can get a free Cherry Tree from the local Cherry Festival, but I am very surprised that people just accept this as fact. For context, Johnny Appleseed, the man of myth, legend, song, only seems to have been responsible for the cultivation of 15,000 apple trees.
How do we find a modern day Fickling? Wouldn’t it be great if your city had even 20,000 peach trees? If anyone takes up the mantle, we will happily tell your story.
Cost
NATURE IS FREE AND SHOULD STAY THAT WAY!!! There also does not appear to be any cost to apply to be part of the Macon Georgia Cherry Blossom Royal Court. If you do want to plant your own, Whiffletree Farm has 3 yr old plants for $27.
A body of Japanese Cherry Blossom “Fine Fragrance Mist,” one of the most popular SKUs at Bath & Body Works retails for $15.50 (buy 3 get 1 free, smell like fake flowers forever).
I don’t think TikToks embed here, but this one is worth a watch: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMenmQ61K/
PS
We get lots of notes about Kit Kat and all the different flavours available. Kevin has recently been on an exotic Kit Kat Kick and got some of the Cherry Blossom flavour. From Nestle “The classic wafers have Sakura leaf powder kneaded into them and are wrapped in Sakura flavored white chocolate. The delicious Sakura taste is sure to bloom in your mouth instantly!” He also acquired some Sakura Mochi, which gives us an excuse to share one of the legendary “How It’s Made!” gifs. Oddly, it is very similar to how this newsletter gets made.
