Pruned and Unpruned

4/2/19 Tony's cherry tree, Beacon Hill neighborhood

Tuesday dawned clear, but the news was foreboding: Rain would begin as early as that night and would continue through the week. My time was running out.

My first stop was my brother-in-law’s house in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, where I sketched his cherry tree last year with buds still tightly closed. It was colder then, so I stayed in the car to sketch it. This time, two weeks later, the old tree was fully in blossom, and the morning was warmer, so I stood across the street to catch a bit of the downtown skyline in the background. He keeps the lovely tree well pruned in that traditional umbrella shape.

After taking a lunch break with Tony, I had to eat and run because I still had more cherry trees to catch. Across town in the Sunset Hill neighborhood, a block flanked by old cherries is my favorite place to view and sketch sakura. I caught the pink fairyland at its peak. Every year, I try to choose a different tree; each has a different character and a different story to tell. Unlike Tony’s neatly trimmed umbrella, the one I sketched (and most of the ornamental cherries on this block) was a free-spirited mess of blossoms tangled among the utility wires. Examining closely, I also noted that the blossoms are different. Tony’s tree has fuller clusters, while the ones on Sunset Hill have looser petals. And they’re both different from the trees at the UW’s Quad.

The sky was completely overcast by the time I drove home with the top still down. It was getting late in the afternoon, so I didn’t stop, but I cruised down Dibble Street in the Crown Hill neighborhood to check the last place I always look for cherries. They were at peak bloom, too. Alas, my clock ran out – at least for this year.

Such fleeting beauty.

4/2/19 Sunset Hill neighborhood

Tony's tree

Sunset Hill trees

Fairyland is in full bloom (unfortunately on trash day)

Look at the gnarly trunk and roots on this one!