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Using saws at the end of long poles, crews with the National Park Service removed dead spots and loose branches from D.C.’s famous cherry blossom trees Thursday.
They were making last-minute adjustments so the trees will look their best for peak bloom, when 70% of the cherry blossoms are flowering.
“The National Park Service is getting the trees ready for their close-up,” said Julie Moore, a spokeswoman with the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit that works to preserve and restore the area. “Like a movie star does a touch-up before their close-up, they have to do a retouch on all the trees.”
For now, the blossoms are still tiny pink buds, but they won’t be for long as they are more than halfway to peak bloom.
If the National Park Service’s official prediction holds, the trees will reach that end stage in about a week — sometime from March 28 to 31.
Warmer temperatures recently seem to be making that more likely.
Last year, peak bloom came on March 17.
“We’re finishing up the maintenance and we’re ready for the big show,” said Matthew Morrison, an arborist for the National Park Service who’s responsible for managing trees along the National Mall. “Sometimes we put climbers up in the trees. Some of these mature cherry trees are pretty tall.”
The National Cherry Blossom Festival runs from Thursday through April 13.
The 2024 festival drew in 1.6 million visitors, topping 2019’s pre-pandemic numbers.
Last year, the Park Service removed around 150 cherry trees as part of a project to address flooding issues at the Tidal Basin. One of the trees removed to accommodate a seawall project to fix the flooding was “Stumpy,” a crowd-favorite that suffered from some health issues.
In August, cuttings removed from “Stumpy” took root at the National Arboretum with hopes of bringing the tree’s relatives to the Tidal Basin in the future.
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer and Ciara Wells contributed to this report.
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