Japan House cherry blossoms starting to bloom in Urbana
URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — After a year without it, an Urbana park will be getting a special bloom soon. The Japan House’s cherry blossoms are due for a comeback.
The trees wouldn’t bloom last year because of the weather, but this year, flowers are starting to sprout.
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University of Illinois Professor of Japanese Arts and Culture, Kimiko Gunji, helped bring the cherry blossoms to Champaign-Urbana from Japan 16 years ago. She says the trees are very temperamental, which is why their blooms are so special.
“Cherry blossoms [are] a certain flower: gorgeous, but [they don’t] last for a long time,” she said. “It has very ephemeral qualities. So, when it blooms, people stop doing anything, stop working, and they just come and watch.”
50 trees were donated in 2008 after Dr. Genshitsu Sen, the 15th generation head of the Urasenke Tea School in Japan, was honored at the University of Illinois. He decided to send three types of cherry trees: Yoshino, Sargent, and weeping.
The flowers are expected to fully blossom in the next couple of weeks. After that, they could last for a week or less on the trees, depending on the wind and other weather conditions.
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