Cherry blossoms emerge at Jackson Park

Cherry blossom alert: The cherry trees are blooming in Jackson Park on the South Side.

After two years of underwhelming blooms, Chicagoans returned to Jackson Park this weekend to catch the first signs of cherry blossoms, with their delicate pink-and-white petals beginning to unfurl. Many paused to snap selfies or take in a moment of springtime peace.

Linsky David, 41, a downtown Chicago resident, visited the park’s Japanese Garden on Saturday with family in town from North Dakota and Washington, D.C.

“We just moved here from Denver a couple of months ago,” David said. “Every year, they go see the cherry blossoms in D.C., but the window this year was so short. We heard about Jackson Park and the cherry blossoms online and thought we’d check it out and see what’s going on.”

David and his fiancée, who recently got engaged in October, posed for photos beneath the trees, taking advantage of the backdrop to show off the ring.

Mawuli Agbefe also came to the park on Saturday after seeing a social media post about the cherry blossoms.

“Last year because of the weather, they didn't really bloom like they normally do, and it's just great that you can see them now, even though we've had a pretty chilly spring overall,” Agbefe said.

Last spring, the cherry blossoms did not fully open due to erratic weather for the second year in a row.

Usually, the peak bloom period happens in late April or early May, lasting one to two weeks.

Temps this month have been unseasonably cool for this time of year, when the highs are in the mid-50s, but a warm-up is on the way the next couple of days, with highs forecast in the 60s, possibly hitting 70 degrees on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service, before dropping to more seasonable temps.

Viewing the cherry blossoms at Jackson Park is a family tradition for Abigail Galindo, who came to the park Saturday with her mom.

“We enjoy it. It's something very different from our regular lives … [and it’s] something to see from other cultures,” she said, adding it’s “something nice to experience with your eyes that maybe we're never gonna be able to [see in other countries like] Japan.”

Last year the first batch of 60 additional cherry trees were planted on the Wooded Island around the Japanese Garden, and near the Columbia Basin, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago, which is helping to pay for the planting. By 2026, the park district hopes to have nearly 250 trees in the cherry blossom tree grove.

The number of cherry trees at Jackson Park has been growing steadily over the last 12 years.

In 2013, the first batch of trees was planted in Jackson Park in time to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and another 50 trees were added in the following three years by the JCCC in honor of its 50th anniversary and the relationship between Chicago and Japan.

In the fall of 2022, the park district planted another 34 cherry trees bordering the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry steps, bringing the total to 190.

Jacob Burns, a curator at the Chicago Botanic Garden, told the Sun-Times last year that with earlier springs, weather is unpredictable. If flowers open up and suddenly experience freezing temperatures, that can be “detrimental,” he said.

Environmental conditions, like temperature, precipitation and wind, determine the flower emergence, according to Spencer Campbell, plant clinic manager at the Morton Arboretum.

Contributing: Pat Nabong, Kyra Senese, Jessica Ma and Dorothy Hernandez