My good friend and I took a trip to Philadelphia to check out the city and to attend the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival. We had a great weekend planned, full of of museums, food and cherries. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t listen and we got snow and freezing rain. They even cancelled the festival events for a day! Nevertheless, we still saw amazing art at the Barnes Foundation, ate wonderful Moroccan food and visited the Morris Arboretum to see some beautiful cherry blossoms.

Cherries (Prunus) are in the Rosaceae or rose family. This family includes many important crops, such as apples, plums, pears, raspberries, strawberries and even almonds. Cherries used for food are native to Eurasia but there are species of Prunus in the US. You can eat the fruit of ornamental cherries but since they were breed for their flowers, the fruit isn’t that tasty. Also check out this article on the cherry blossoms of Washington DC, which includes information on different cultivars of cherries.

Yoshino Cherry, Prunus x yedoensis (the x means that this is a hybrid of two different species)

Pink double weeping Higan cherry, Prunus subhirtella ‘pendula plena rosea’ (the name in single quotes is the cultivar name)

Taihaku Cherry, Punus ‘Taihaku’

Prunus species

Prunus species (note the water drops from the freezing rain)

Prunus species