As spring approaches and the sun begins to shine a bright, warm glow onto campus, flowers and foliage come out of their winter hibernation. Walking through campus now, patches of California poppies dot various paths and magnolias bathe in a newfound sun. But perhaps one of the most anticipated spring flora are campus\u2019s signature cherry blossoms.<\/p>\n
The light pink, almost white cherry blossoms \u2014 scientific name Prunus x yedoensis and more commonly known as the Yoshino Cherry \u2014 grow along University Drive by campus\u2019s West Gate area.<\/p>\n
The California Japanese American Alumni Association raised money in order to plant these flowers back in November 2011. The trees are dedicated to Japanese American alumni, according to the alumni association.<\/p>\n
The alumni association raised more than $250,000 for the project, which included the installation of a stone-mounted bronze plaque. It then hosted a dedication ceremony for the cherry blossoms in April 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis grove of cherry trees stands as a legacy to the graduates of Japanese ancestry in recognition of their contribution to our society and as a tribute to the educational excellence of the University of California,\u201d reads the plaque located at the grove.<\/p>\n
The cherry blossoms are a symbol of \u201cJapanese culture and heritage with a spirit of unity,\u201d according to the Cherry Tree Project website. In traditional Japanese culture, the flowers are meant to symbolize the \u201ctransience of life\u201d that can powerfully remind people to stop and appreciate the present moment.<\/p>\n
The trees are currently managed by UC Berkeley Capital Projects, with campus landscape architect and alumnus Jim Horner planning and reviewing the sites.<\/p>\n
The flowers have historically bloomed from March through April, bringing a fresh pop of color to the greenery on campus. This year, the grove\u2019s cherry blossoms have just started to bloom, signaling the start of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most enjoyable part is that they always bloom during the spring,\u201d said junior Annie Duong. \u201cWalking past and seeing that they\u2019re blooming just makes it feel way more warm and inviting.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the end of the semester nears, the cherry blossoms are also a popular location for graduation photos.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear that the blossoms have also become a signature feature of UC Berkeley\u2019s campus landscape.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to experience the cherry blossoms,\u201d said freshman Jude Hammouda. \u201cI feel like it\u2019ll make the springtime feel more like springtime instead of summer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As spring approaches and the sun begins to shine a bright, warm glow onto campus, flowers and foliage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103282,103278,101953,103279,87415,103281,103283,143,145,144,103274,103280,103276,103277,103275],"class_list":["post-226909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-annie-duong","tag-california-japanese-american-alumni-association","tag-california-poppy","tag-cherry-tree-project","tag-japanese-american","tag-jim-horner","tag-jude-hammouda","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-prunus-x-yedoensis","tag-uc-berkeley-capital-projects","tag-university-drive","tag-west-gate","tag-yoshino-cherry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}