The project, which celebrates the continued co-operation and friendship between Japan and the UK, was launched in 2017 and had an initial aim of planting 6,000 donated cherry trees throughout the UK, as a symbol of international friendship.
The cherry blossom, known as Sakura, is the national flower of Japan. The fifty Sakura trees will be situated in the Japanese Garden behind the Core building at the Eden Project, and the flowering blossoms will be able to be seen from all areas of the Outdoor Garden.
Cherry blossoms hold deep cultural significance in Japan, where the tradition of hanami, which translates to ‘gathering to view the blooms’, dates back centuries. Each spring, millions of people and tourists flock to Japan's most celebrated viewing spots to photograph and celebrate the spectacular displays, which typically last just one to two weeks. The blossoms symbolise the transient nature of beauty and life, making their brief appearance a treasured annual event that captures international attention.
Julie Kendall, outdoor horticulture manager at the Eden Project, said, “We're honoured to welcome these cherry trees as part of the Sakura Cherry Tree Project, which beautifully symbolises the friendship between Japan and the UK. They have been planted in companion with Acer trees, known for their vibrant autumnal colours, meaning the area will have rich colour all year round, and promises to be a real spectacle.”
The 50 saplings include three varieties of cherry trees, each with distinct seasonal colours. While visitors will be able to see their progress over the coming years, these young trees will take three to five years to establish and produce their first dazzling annual display.
The first to blossom is the most commonly planted cherry in Japan. The Prunus x yedoensis (Yoshino cherry) will produce lightly fragrant, pale pink flowers that fade to pure white blossoms in late March. The foliage turns orange to yellow in colour during autumn and offers black fruits later in the year.
Both the Prunus 'Tai-haku' (great white cherry) and the Prunus 'Beni-yutaka' are rarer types of cherry blossom, which are typically only found in speciality collections. The great white cherry, named for its striking single, ice-white flowers that bloom in April, was rescued from extinction by a single tree found in Sussex and reintroduced to Japan in 1932. The Prunus 'Beni-yutaka' blooms a soft pink in mid-to-late April, and its foliage turns a deep red in time for autumn.
Later this spring, a young Gingko biloba, the seed of a survivor tree of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 during World War II, will join the cherry trees in the Japanese Garden. The tree’s survival and continued growth symbolise nature’s extraordinary resilience and capacity to recover from even the most devastating circumstances. The gifted Gingko sapling is one of six being planted across Cornwall as part of a global project by the Mayors for Peace network, to mark eighty years since the bombing.
Julie added: “As we celebrate 25 years of Eden, not only will these plantings serve as a living reminder of the enduring friendship between Japan and the UK for generations to come, but it also tells the story of our dependence on plants and their rich cultural and historical symbolism. The cherry trees and Hiroshima Gingko are living examples of how horticulture connects us across borders and generations.”
Find out more at www.edenproject.com.
