This year, in addition to celebrating a
quarter-century of its cherry blossom festival, the Brooklyn
Botanic Garden presents "Hanami," a two-month-long
call to cherish each stage of the cherry tree’s flowering. The
Japanese tradition of "Hanami" includes appreciation
of the cherry trees’ buds, their glorious blossoming, and even
the fluttering away of the last petals.
Normally, the flowers last just three days, but BBG can celebrate
their "Hanami" from April 8 to May 28 because the garden
has 42 varieties that blossom at different times.
Artist Mizue Sawano has not only reflected on the BBG’s collection
of cherry blossom trees herself, but she has preserved them in
her exquisite, expressionist paintings.
"Mizue captures different varieties of cherries, which have
different feelings," said Anita Jacobs, BBG’s director of
public programs. Jacobs explains that the misty, weeping ("Higan")
cherries, which bend over the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden,
have a very different mood than the upright "Kanzan"
cherries, with showy double blossoms, that line the allee in
the Cherry Esplanade.
An exhibit of these expressive paintings, "Mizue Sawano:
The Art of the Cherry Tree," opens on April 8 in the Steinhardt
Conservatory. The show features her original, "quite large"
works that have been reproduced on "Sakura Matsuri"
posters since 1992, said Jacobs.
"When she first moved to New York from Japan, Mizue started
coming here regularly and really connected to our collection,"
she said. "[Mizue] has very site-specific paintings and
has a huge collection based on our water lilies, too."
Blossom updates
This weekend, the "Okame" and "Higan" trees
are blossoming, according to Patrick Cullina, BBG’s vice president
of horticulture, adding that bloom predictions are dependent
on Mother Nature.
"A significant cold snap can harm blossoms or slow things
down," he explained – but added that Wednesday’s snowstorm
"did little, if any, damage."
Throughout the next two months, cherry blossom buffs can keep
abreast of the activity of the garden’s 220 trees, as well as
read up on the history, cultivation and care of the cherries,
on the garden’s "Cherry Watch" Web site, www.bbg.org/cherrywatch.
During this garden-wide celebration, even the gift shop and cafe
are offering Japanese-themed gifts and foods, said Jacobs.
’Sakura Matsuri’
The pinnacle of BBG’s "Hanami" celebration is the two-day
"Sakura Matsuri" or "cherry blossom festival,"
slated for April 29-30. Under a tent, in their buildings and
throughout the grounds, the garden will present Japanese arts
and culture: live music, dance and theater; workshops for adults
and children; exhibits; demonstrations; and of course, the spectacular
flowering of those cherry trees.
In addition to traditional and classical forms of Japanese art
and culture ("People from Japan tell us that some of these
art forms are dying out, so it’s so special to them that we do
it here," said Jacobs), this year’s festival will also include
the utterly contemporary CosPlay costumes – handmade attire inspired
by Japanese animation – and a rock concert by Brooklyn band Gaijin
a Go-Go.
"I love that some visitors come to see Gaijin a Go-Go, and
leave after having done a bonsai workshop," said Jacobs
of the wide-ranging list of events that is expected to draw record
crowds this year.
Because of the popularity of "Sakura Matsuri," Jacobs
advises coming in the morning to enjoy the blossoms, so the rest
of the day can be taken up with activities. In anticipation of
a big crowd, BBG will have additional gates open, but Brooklyn
Botanic Garden members can skip lines altogether by flashing
their membership card.
Out of Inuyama
This year, Bensonhurst native Anthony Bianchi, who is a city
councilman in the Japanese city of Inuyama, will bring several
artisans from his adopted hometown to show their works at "Sakura
Matsuri." Bianchi will also give "a presentation about
his life and journey from Brooklyn to Inuyama," said Jacobs.
"We felt that the BBG ’Sakura Matsuri’ would be a good place
to introduce some aspects of Japanese culture," he told
GO Brooklyn via e-mail. While Bianchi is said to be the first
person born in North America to be elected to public office in
Japan, his open-minded city does hold other traditions quite
dear: its own cultural festival is 372-years-old.
Among the dozens of visitors Bianchi is bringing from Inuyama
will be artisans who create Japanese shoes ("geta"),
favored tofu, Japanese calligraphy ("shodo"), and works
wrought from antique roof tiles. Inuyama sculptor Junkro will
create a site-specific work from flowering cherry branches, according
to Jacobs.
New home for bonsai
Guided tours of BBG’s Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and the newly
remodeled C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum – which has more than 100
specimens on display, according to bonsai collection curator
Robert Mahler – will also be offered during "Sakura Matsuri."
Inside the Steinhardt Conservatory, the dwarf potted trees –
some of which are several hundred years old – are now displayed
on wooden tables, above a paving pattern of bluestone and blue-green
rocks meant to evoke land or water.
The garden’s tree peonies, a gift from Japan’s Yatsuka-Cho prefecture
to commemorate 9-11, will have blooms as large as salad plates
at the beginning of May, predicted Cullina.
"They’re absolutely jaw-dropping," said Jacobs, of
the peonies that were planted near the Japanese Hill-and-Pond
Garden in 2002. "The blooms are really dramatic, in rich
dark colors. It’s worth a trip just to see them."
Indeed, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s entire "Hanami"
celebration is really a two-month-long invitation to take a moment
to enjoy beauty.
"The Japanese appreciate the [flowering cherry tree’s] bud,
the peak of bloom and the decline of blooming and dropping of
petals – the process," said Cullina about these blossoms
that have inspired everything from poetry to kimono patterns.
"It’s an annual reminder that life is fleeting, and that
you need to stop and enjoy the show while you can."
"Hanami," the Brooklyn Botanic
Garden’s celebration of the cherry blossom life cycle, runs April
8-May 28, beginning with the opening of the art exhibit "Mizue
Sawano: The Art of the Cherry Tree" in the Steinhardt Conservatory
on Saturday. Also, some varieties of cherry blossoms will be
in bloom this weekend. Check www.bbg.org/cherrywatch
for the latest report.
The "Sakura Matsuri" festival will take place, rain
or shine, throughout the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, from 10 am
to 6 pm on April 29 and 30. Brooklyn Botanic Garden is located
at 900 Washington Ave., at Eastern Parkway, in Prospect Heights.
All activities are free with garden admission: $5 adults, $3
seniors and students with ID, free for children under age 16.
For a schedule, call the hotline at (718) 623-7333 or visit the
Web site.
