Philly’s cherry blossoms expected to bloom in early April

Philadelphia is just a month away from cherry blossom season, according to one expert prognosticator.

Sandi Polyakov, the head gardener at the Shofuso Japanese Cultural Center, predicts a peak bloom around the first week of April. This would put the blossoms on pace with last year’s timeline.

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“Upcoming weather trends can certainly stall or hasten things; but the blossoms have already begun their development process,” Polyakov said in a March 1 statement. “Based on the story the buds are telling us, it appears we’re roughly four weeks out from the full-bloom show.”

Polyakov said that while some of the trees, such as the Okame and Higgan varieties, began blooming in late February, most of the city’s cherry trees are still in the earliest stage of development. Those include the Yoshino cherry trees planted along the Skuylkill River and in West Fairmount Park, where the center is based. The center is operated by the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, whose annual cherry blossom festival is scheduled for Saturday, April 13, through Sunday, April 14.

According to the National Park Service, peak bloom is “almost impossible” to conclusively predict more than 10 days in advance, since the blossoms’ development is so dependent on weather conditions. But cherry trees in the U.S. have been blooming a bit earlier in recent years. The famous collection on the National Mall has reached peak bloom in the penultimate week of March for the past two years, and 2024 looks no different. Philadelphia’s peak bloom typically follows about a week after D.C.’s.

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