Cherry Blossom Time
As spring lightens the hours of the day and brings warmer weather, why not plant a cherry tree or some other fruit tree. Although fruit trees may take a couple of years before they bear enough fruit for your family. Well tended, especially in the early years a fruit tree – cherry, apple, lemon or your own favorites, can bring a meaningful harvest for years to come. A wonderful tradition and a useful one for adding to the food supply for the planet.
And if you love birds, and who doesn’t, Mulberry trees, Crabapple trees, Elderberry trees and Hawthorn trees – are among many trees that support birds with their fruit. As a child ,I always found crabapples so sour to eat, but it always made me happy to seeing birds enjoy them more than I did.
Cherry Tree Haiku
First tree blossoms bloom
Then pink petals like snow fall
Pies come in summer.
– ©2023 Carl Scott Harker, author of
The Happy Cat and other Illustrated Poems
Video of Fruit Tree in Bloom
While I am pretty sure this video is not of a flowering cherry tree, but it will bear some kind of fruit and it is lovely…
Video by InspiredImages from Pixabay
A Cherry Tree Fable based on a Japanese Legend
adapted by Carl Scott Harker
Once upon a time, in a quaint village nestled between verdant hills near the Ishikari River, there grew an exquisite cherry tree. Its branches, in spring, reached for the heavens, adorned with delicate pink blossoms that danced like confetti in the slightest breeze. This tree, known as Sakura, held a place of honor in the middle of a garden in the middle of the village. And no year passed when the villagers did not fill blessed and delighted by the tree.
The village Sakura was not an ordinary tree, but sprang from the love and sadness of a young maiden named Sakura who fell in love with a humble farmer named Taro. Their love was pure and true and filled with days of joy upon their marriage. But too soon fate, in the form of the Emperor, tore the young lovers apart. Taro was called to serve in the emperor’s army, leaving Sakura behind. With tears in both their eyes, Taro promised to return.
Wars and battles go on too long! Seasons passed, Taro’s absence tested Sakura’s love as her heartache grew larger. The gods, themselves, felt the woman’s pain mixed with her love from this separation and used it to manifest the first cherry blossom tree. Each delicate petal that opened on its branches, in the spring, was a silent prayer for Taro’s safe return.
Years turned into decades, and still, Taro did not come back. Yet, Sakura’s love never faltered. She became a symbol of enduring love and resilience for the villagers, who would gather beneath the tree, the gods had made, to celebrate the fleeting beauty of life and the steadfastness of love.
One fateful spring, as the village prepared for its annual cherry blossom festival, a weary traveler stumbled upon the cherry tree named after Sakura. The traveler had a face weathered by time, a body worn and scarred by struggles untold, but was still recognizable by those who had known him as the long gone Taro, returning to the village after a lifetime of adventures and trials.
Taro fell to his knees, overcome with emotion, as he beheld the magnificent tree that had grown as a testament to his beloved’s love. With tears streaming down his face, he embraced the Sakura trunk, feeling the pulse of love coursing through the trunk and out through the blossoms. Then Taro felt a hand on his shoulder and, in a moment, the two lovers were once more one.
And another miracle happened, the Sakura’s branches shimmered with an ethereal light, while a gentle breeze swept through the village, carrying the sweet scent of cherry blossoms. The tree itself was rejoicing in the reunion of two souls bound by love.
From that day forth, Taro and Sakura were never apart again. And it is said that as long as there are cherry blossoms blooming in the spring, people will know that love is timeless and eternal.
