The Innovator Who Introduced Cherry Blossoms to the US

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2018/03-04/cherry-blossoms-come-to-d-c-/

by jpamata • 8 years ago

42 8 8 years ago

nationalgeographic.com

brudgers• 8 years ago

related, Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Miami, https://www.fairchildgarden.org/

matthewmcg• 8 years ago

You can also visit his house in Coconut Grove (the Kampong) but advanced reservations are required. It's worth it:

https://ntbg.org/gardens/kampong#tours

thedailymail• 8 years ago

When I saw the headline, I expected this article would be about Jokichi Takamine, a biotechnology pioneer from Japan who paid for the 2000 sakura trees donated to DC by the governor of Tokyo. I wasn't aware of the Fairchild/Marlatt stories, so it's interesting to see how the multiple historical threads converge.

https://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/mdd/v04/i12/html/12ti...

tejohnso• 8 years ago

I thought it was going to be about the chocolate treat[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Blossom_(candy)

Eurongreyjoy2• 8 years ago

When I lived in DC I had very mixed feelings about the impact of the Cherry Blossom Festival. On one hand its creates a ton of Tourism Revenue for the city, on the other the streets and parks become over crowded and you see the increase in litter and pollution at the parks.

I never heard this story and was only familiar with the story the Mayor of Tokyo donated the trees to establish friendly connections with the capital.

A quick search to the Wikipedia page though includes some detail about the Fairchild family.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cherry_Blossom_Festiv...

tvanantwerp• 8 years ago

I'm always torn--I love to see the cherry blossoms, but hate wading through the crowds of tourists.

Eurongreyjoy2• 8 years ago

Everyone wants their Facebook photo with the Jefferson Memorial in the background. I just wish they were aware enough to obey basic traffic rules and avoid walking in clearly marked bike lanes.

OhHeyItsE• 8 years ago

Fun Fact: The largest collection of Cherry Blossoms in the United States is in Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/03/the_story_behind_br...

https://www.newarkhappening.com/cherry-blossom-festival/

The Innovator Who Introduced Cherry Blossoms to the US

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