White Cherry blossom contrasts beautifully with a bright blue April sky
Nature on our doorsteps: The Dance of the Cherry Trees
Rosaleen Dwyer is the County Heritage Officer at South Dublin County Council – every week she gives us an insight into the natural heritage around us and the beautiful biodiversity of the plants and creatures.
South Dublin County’s streets and parks are decorated at the moment with the lovely pink and white blossoms of flowering Cherry trees.
These trees are ornamental Cherry trees.
They do not produce juicy sweet cherry fruit, but they are grown for their beautiful frothy blossoms that hang in clumps and dance in the springtime breeze.
Most of these ornamental Cherries have been bred from species that originated in Asia.
Due to the demand for these lovely springtime blossoms across the world, there are many different varieties of flowering Cherry today.
Some have also been bred to flower later in the year, in early autumn.
This group of Cherry trees in Tymon offers a stunning springtime display
Ireland has only 2 native Cherry Trees, the Wild Cherry and the Bird Cherry.
Neither of these species is very common in the wild, but where they occur, they grow in old hedgerows and woodland margins.
The Irish climate is not warm enough for our native species to produce sweet cherry fruit, so it is our wild birds that mostly benefit from their sour-tasting cherries.
Cherry trees also produce good timber.
The wood darkens as it ages and can be polished to a rich mahogany colour.
In Japan, the extensive springtime flowering of the frothy pink and white ornamental Cherries is a cause for celebration.
The Cherry is Japan’s national flower, and every spring the blossom is celebrated in the national festival of Hanami.
Families and friends gather under the Cherry blossoms to enjoy music and food, and to appreciate and celebrate the fleeting, seasonal nature of the earth’s natural beauty.
In Ireland, April is known for its showery and breezy weather.
Because of these unpredictable conditions, the Cherry blossom does not often get the chance to last very long on the trees.
Within a week or two of normal April weather, the blossoms are blown from the trees, scattering a layer of petals like pink snow over cars and on the pavements.
