Philly is planting 250 new cherry blossom trees for its 250th birthday

Philadelphia has a thing with birthdays and cherry blossoms.

First, in 1926, in honor of America’s 150th birthday, the Japanese government gifted Philadelphia 1,600 flowering cherry, crab-apple, peach, and plum trees. Planted mostly in rows along the Schuylkill, some of those fragrant offerings still bloom each year, having endured a century of Philadelphia springs.

On Wednesday, the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia kept the tree tradition alive. During a tree-planting ceremony on the lawn of the Horticultural Center in Fairmount Park, they pledged to plant 250 new cherry blossom trees to help Philadelphia celebrate America’s 250th birthday in 2026, also known as the Semiquincentennial.

“It is only fitting,” said Kazumi Teune, executive director of the group, before seven Yoshino cherry trees, the most popular and widely planted cherry cultivars, were planted in the center’s Centennial Arboretum. “These beautiful trees truly honor the relationship between the United States and Japan.”

Since last spring, the group has already planted 80 new cherry blossoms around the Horticultural Center and nearby Shofuso Japanese Cultural Center. Those trees joined nearly 900 cherry blossom trees already on the grounds.

The arboreal birthday effort comes through a $135,000 grant by the Philadelphia Insurance Companies Foundation.

“It is a privilege to have a part in maintaining this history,” said Brian O’Reilly, executive vice president of the Philadelphia Insurance Companies.

As part of the project, the groups have also planted cherry blossoms along Kelly Drive, from the Girard Avenue Bridge to near Boathouse Row, and outside the Blankenburg Elementary School in Mill Creek. All 250 trees are expected to be planted by next spring.

“This partnership showcases the power of public, private, and nonprofit collaboration in making a meaningful impact,” said Susan Slawson, commissioner of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation. “These 250 cherry blossom trees will bloom for generations.”

Back in 1926, organizers of Philadelphia’s celebrations for the country’s 150th birthday, known as the Sesquicentennial, promised that the gifted flowering trees would become “the most beautiful features of Fairmount Park,” according to an Inquirer article from the time.

“Some of those trees are still going strong,” said Sandi Polyakov, head gardener at the Japan America Society. He estimates about 20 of the original 1926 trees still thrive.

In 1998, the Japan America Society began a 10-year, 1,000-tree planting campaign across the city.

These latest additions will still be budding during the forthcoming cherry blossom season, Polyakov said. But, this year, as luck would have it, peak cherry blossom bloom is expected to come during the Philadelphia Cherry Blossom Festival, held April 5 and 6.

Polyakov expects some of the new cherry blossom trees to last a century, especially the hearty Yoshinos.

“They could definitely live to be 100,” he said.