We may not be surrounded by cherry blossoms here like the northeast region of the U.S. is, but it’s official: spring has sprung. Living in Tampa Bay, we don’t experience changing seasons and climates, except for the transition from the “warm season” to “hot season,” but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the kickoff of spring with the rest of the country.
We associate cherry blossoms with spring and the Japanese culture because that is where they're originally “rooted.” Cherry blossoms are the flowers, or blossoms, of trees such as the Japanese Cherry. Some of these trees grow fruit, but many of them are planted simply because they’re pleasurable to the peepers. In 1912, Japan gave the U.S. a gift of over 3,000 cherry blossom trees, as a token of friendship between the two countries. Today, many U.S. cities, including Brooklyn and Newark, hold annual Cherry Blossom Festivals, because the budding of these blossoms is associated with the beginning of spring.
