Photos by Carol Elk
A reader sent in these photos of the Cherry Blossom trees blooming in Central Park, and the photos were just taken yesterday—in January. While we're used to seeing cherry blossom trees blooming in April or May, it seems winter blooms are becoming more and more normal. This happened last year, too, and even earlier, in December.
At the time, Brooklyn Botanic Garden curator Brian Funke told us that "while it's common for the everblooming cherry and the autumn-flowering cherry to be blooming in December, it is a bit irregular for Prunus to have so many blossoms." These trees tend to bloom in December if a cold spell is followed by warm weather, and weather permitting, usually the blossoming will continue throughout the week, at least. The trees there have been experiencing a winter bloom this year, too—the BBG uploaded photos to their Flickr on December 22nd, noting, "Prunus 'Fudan-Zakura' offers December blossoms in BBG's Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden."
Have you spotted any pink out there?
