🌸 Welcome to spring | Outdoorsy Newsletter

For weeks, I’ve had Caroline Polachek in my head singing, “Spring is coming with a strawberry in her mouth.”

How do we know it’s really here? Is it freshly served wooder ice? Is it the birds seemingly getting louder every morning? Or is this just the “fools’ spring” phase of the annual winter-spring battleground? Thomas Pluck put it perfectly: “It’s a metamorphosis; winter is shedding its coat for the pastel butterfly wings of spring. And we’re all inside its cocoon!”

I’m excited to get back outside with you. This newsletter will return to your inbox soon, but I wanted to check in early as we ease into the outdoors again. Consider this a preview of all the fun ahead.

In this edition:

☀️ Your weekend weather outlook: It should be glorious, but brace for strong winds.

— Paola Pérez (outdoorsy@inquirer.com)

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Cherry blossoms are my favorite flower. We’re lucky to live in a region with lots of cherry trees, and we’re going to see a lot more — 250 new trees, to be exact — in the coming years.

As cherry trees bloom at different times across the city, Hira Qureshi and Jasen Lo put together a guide on where and when to see them at their peak.

Here’s a preview:

🌸 The Okame cherry is the earliest flowering variation. Look for them around South Philly and the Morris Arboretum.

🌸 The Pendula weeping cherries are commonly found in lawns and parks. Clusters can be seen in West Fairmount Park and along the Schuylkill.

🌸 The Kwanzan cherry is hard to miss with its cotton candy-pink color, but these might not be in bloom just yet.

Use our map as your guide to local species and tips on times and places to catch these precious blossoms.

🚜 Cherry Hill adopted a zoning overlay intended to protect its only working farm and a garden center from development.

🍦 The beloved Freddy Hill Farms and Freddy’s Family Fun Center in Montgomery County will close at the end of the 2025 season.

🥚 A Montgomery County-based egg producer settled a federal class-action lawsuit over alleged false claims about “free roaming” hens on their egg cartons.

👀 Speaking of eggs, Farmer Jawn is giving away 100 dozen of them in West Chester and Germantown today.

🏕️ More than 425 campsites across Pennsylvania will be closed indefinitely due to “executive-order driven staffing shortages.” See if your reservation was impacted (and will be refunded).

🗺️ See when public gardens in the Philly area are reopening their gates for the season, and pick up a brand new passport to track your progress.

🌳 Want a tree on your block in Philly? PHS Tree Tenders will plant it for free this fall. Submit an application through May 2.

🧘 Spots are still available for restorative yoga with Latino Outdoors Philly at Fairmount Park this Sunday.

🎤 Let me pass the mic to Jason Nark, who reports on rural parts of Pennsylvania and the outdoors far from city life.

The late Leon Buckman knew a lot about plumbing, heating, and swimming pools. He knew powdered chlorine, but not fresh powder.

As far as any living Buckman can recall, neither Leon nor his late wife, Betty, ever put on skis and hit the slopes in Switzerland or even Spring Mountain — elevation 528 feet — right in the family’s backyard in Montgomery County.

“I’m 99% sure they never skied,” said Brad Buckman, senior vice president and owner of Buckman’s Inc.

If you’ve skied or snowboarded, or simply sought out quality cold weather experiences, though, you’ve likely heard of the Buckmans. They’ve been the undisputed first family of winter fun in the Philadelphia region for 50-plus years. In 1971, Leon Buckman branched off from plumbing and pools and, mostly because his kids had a newfound hobby and he had retail space in the winter, he opened Buckman’s Ski & Snowboard Shop in Perkiomenville. Today, Buckman’s has seven locations in Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Berks, and Lehigh Counties. — Jason Nark

Read on for the full story. (Psst, March is typically the last month for skiing. Go while you still can!)

We want to hear from you. Where do you go for a moment of calm? What sight takes your breath away? Has an expedition changed your life? In 200 words, tell us about your favorite outdoor adventures or special memories. If you have photos, we’d love to see them — you might even be featured in an upcoming newsletter.

And before you go, we want your input! What kinds of stories do you want to see in Outdoorsy this season? Whether you are more experienced or don’t know where to start, send me an email or use this form to give your feedback. Through this newsletter, we’ll explore the outside world — with confidence.

👋🏽 Catch you again real soon.

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This newsletter has been updated to clarify the closures impacting Pennsylvania parks. 425 campsites are closed, not campgrounds.