Bloomin’ lovely

THESE eight cherry-blossom prints are named after the ‘eight Virtues of Bushidō according to Nitobe Inazō’: Honour, Mercy, Politeness, Control, Justice, Courage, Honesty and Loyalty’. Created by Damien Hirst, The Virtues is a complete set of laminated giclée prints, dated 2021, with matching edition numbers —it will go under the hammer with Forum Auctions, London SW8, tomorrow (£80,000– £120,000; www.forumauctions.co.uk).

On the subject of spring, the National Trust’s annual #blossomwatch campaign is kicking off, for which the public is invited to share images of blossom, from apple in March to hawthorn in May—and not only at Trust properties—on social media, in a kind of British version of the Japanese hanami tradition.

Over the coming weeks, most of the charity’s 40 or so ‘Project Blossom’ plantings will be completed. This includes orchards at Stourhead in Wiltshire, Antony in Cornwall and Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire, a flowering cherry avenue at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, and new trees across the Gower and Brecon Beacons in Wales. Plantings are also due for completion in Newcastle, Nottingham and Plymouth. ‘Bringing more blossom to cities and Trust landscapes is an important part of our plans to plant 20 million trees [by 2030],’ says director-general Hilary Mcgrady. Visit www.nationaltrust.org. uk/features/helping-communities-blossom