Cherry blossoms emerge early in Rochester’s Highland Park
The famed cherry blossoms in Washington reached peak bloom by March 17 — tied for the second earliest in history. In Rochester, the same dynamics are at play.
In Rochester’s Highland Park, some of the cherry trees have started to bloom on the south-facing hillsides along Reservoir Avenue. That’s very, very early, said Mark Quinn, Monroe County superintendent of horticulture.
“But looking at the weather for the next two weeks, we really don’t have much in the way of warm weather,” Quinn said. “So I would expect them to hold.”
While the county doesn’t record the peak cherry bloom like it does for lilacs, the blossoms typically peak in late April or early May. The exact timing depends on weather, with warmer weather accelerating the timeline.
While the recent snow and cold temperatures might halt the local cherry blossoms, Quinn said earlier blooming plants tend to be hardier in the face of cold snaps than later blooming plants, such as apple trees.
“I don’t see any particular problems with our blossoms and even some of the times we’ve had freezes come after the lilacs have started blooming, we really haven’t sustained that much damage,” Quinn said.
Outside of the cherry trees, there are plenty of plants already in bloom in Highland Park, including azaleas, cornus mas and viburnum.
“People are really enjoying the blooms right now,” Quinn said. “There’s a lot going on already.”
The cherry trees in Washington are considered to be at peak bloom when 70% of blossoms are open. There are six stages tracked by the National Park Service including peak bloom, starting with green buds. Peak bloom is most typically the last week of March or first week of April.
Since the original cherry trees were planted on the National Mall in 1912, the earliest the Yoshino cherry blossoms have reached peak bloom was March 15 in 1990. The latest was April 18 in 1958.