Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey Is the Largest Collection of Cherry Blossom Trees in the U.S.

Once I first moved to New Jersey greater than 20 years in the past, a pal instructed me a couple of park that had extra cherry blossom bushes than Washington, D.C. I figured she was exaggerating. However then in 2018, I signed up for the Essex County Branch Brook Park 10K and couldn’t imagine the huge variety of bushes in such shut proximity to New York Metropolis. The next yr, I ran the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile in Washington, D.C., and bear in mind being disenchanted by the expertise.

Because it seems, the nation’s capital could seize cherry blossom headlines with its assortment of three,800 bushes, however the far lesser identified Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey, truly has it beat by a whopping 1,500 bushes.

Positioned nearly 12 miles west of New York Metropolis, the 360-acre inexperienced house boasts greater than 5,300 bushes in 18 varieties, crowning it thecountry’s largest assortment of cherry blossom bushes. This yr the park celebrated the forty ninth anniversary of its Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival, with with occasions persevering with by means of April 30.

Not like many different areas the place peak bloom is waning or has already handed, proper now could be the guts of Department’s Brooks flowering season, with this yr’s peak working by means of April 18, in keeping with the Branch Brook Park Alliance. Moreover, with its vast number of bushes, blossoms ebb and circulation from late March to early Might.

The four-mile-long park additionally has a well-known roots, having been designed in 1867 by panorama architect Frederick Legislation Olmsted, greatest identified for his work on New York Metropolis’s Central Park. Plus, Department Brook Park has the excellence of being the nation’s first county park opened for public use, in addition to being on each the state and nation’s register of historic locations. 

The park first began blossoming in 1927 when 2,500 cherry bushes had been donated by philanthropist Caroline Bamberger Fuld. By 1978, an annual Cherry Blossom Pageant began as a neighborhood celebration to celebrating the floral magnificence. And by 2006, most of the unique bushes had disintegrated due to age, and an aggressive planting program was launched to each strengthen the prevailing bushes and add to the numbers.

Whereas the park could not have the marquee title as different locations, the key has been getting out, with crowds topping 10,000 guests throughout peak days. A $10 million Cherry Blossom Visitor Center was added final yr.

“Standing in entrance of the cherry blossom bushes is the place a lot of our lives’ cherished moments unfold,” Department Brook Park Alliance Chairman Thomas Dougherty said in a statement. “Along with the great thing about the park, the pageant is a chance to have a good time and thrive due to the tourism.’

Certainly, that is the sensation I’ve related to the park. In the course of the pandemic, Department Brook Park grew to become like a second dwelling, and my haven. I spent numerous hours strolling round its pathways and even engaged on my laptop computer in my automotive beneath its blooms.

A pair weeks in the past, I used to be strolling round Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin because the capital’s blossoms had been beginning to come into bloom. Whereas the delicate pink-white petals had been little question candy, I smiled to myself realizing that I had just a little secret again dwelling, the place the flowers shades are extra variegated and vibrant, and bloom interval lasts longer, proving why the Backyard State lives as much as its title.