Emily Kwong

But originally, these blossoms came from trees gifted by Japan in 1912.

And now they turn the city into this like soft pink wonderland.

Yeah, there's so many trees in bloom right now.

It does feel like Pennsylvania has Groundhog Day and we have this.

Like this is D.C.

's homegrown sign of spring.

Right.

Okay, so when 70% of the Yoshino cherry trees are in bloom, that is peak bloom.

You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.

OK, short wavers, once again, we are on our monthly nature quest brought to you by someone who's paying attention to how their local environment is changing.

And this month, that person is shortwave intern Aru Nair.

So what goes into a cherry tree bloom, Aru?

Okay, so stage one, green bud, where a flower bud emerges, but it's protected by green leaves.

Yes, protected but aware.

So the florets are peeking out.

What then happens in stage four?

You're definitely not going to guess this one.

This is so cool.

So how do folks at the National Park possibly predict this?

Like, are they just running around checking all 3,700 cherry trees to see what kind of stage they're at?