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Far from the crowds wandering the quad at the University of Washington is a Capitol Hill street that also blooms beautifully in spring.
21st Ave E — just north of Aloha and south of Prospect — is home to one of Capitol Hill’s best blooms of cherry blossoms. The old trees line a couple blocks and draw small crowds of their own to swirl feet through the pink and white drifts and take pictures.
The street’s neighborhood business goes on in the midst including dog walks and kids on their way to school. The scene also paints a very Seattle picture with neighborhood cars lining the already puny street. Your blossom photograph probably has a Honda Fit and a midsize SUV in it.
On the handful of weekends at the bloom’s height, the street gets busy with people on a stroll and visitors making an ill advised attempt to find nearby parking but mostly the 21st Ave E cherry blossoms are a quiet affair.
The cherries are only part of Capitol Hill’s blooming canopy. You will also find ornamental pears — among the first to flower — and flowering plums which also have white and pink flowers.
Cherries are probably the most well-known and well-loved of the spring flowering trees. They belong to several species, all in the genus Prunus. In fact, the genus Prunus contains many plants that we enjoy for their flowers and fruits, including cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. Cherries often have trunks with bark marked by a pattern of horizontal lines. These lines, called lenticels, are openings in the bark that allow for gas exchange between the inner tissue and the atmosphere.
Along 21st Ave E, the city documents a rare cluster of Akebono Cherry trees on the street but no record of age or how they got there. Flowering cherries hold cultural importance in Japan and the blooms symbolize the transience of beauty and life.
Flowering cherries typically have white or pink flowers that are produced in clusters on the branch, unlike flowering plums which usually have only one or two flowers at each point along the stem.
They also don’t last long so don’t wait for your moment of transience in the blossoms.
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