The National Park Service has assembled a useful overview of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., including ways to plan a visit to the festival, maps and brochures, programs, and other resources. Their section on the history of the cherry trees themselves, however, really stands out. Before the trees were successfully planted in 1912, several blossom lovers had already spent 20 years attempting to plant cherry trees in the District of Columbia. Readers may find the story of Mrs. Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore and Dr. David Fairchild’s efforts noteworthy, as they led to the donation of 2,000 cherry trees by Japan in 1910. However, those trees were found to be diseased, and so all but a handful of them had to be burned. The timeline then moves through a new Japanese gift of 3,020 new trees, their successful planting, and explains the development of the Cherry Blossom Festival as it slowly took shape over the following decades. Readers may also enjoy the Photos and Multimedia tab, which showcases the trees in videos, photographs, and a web cam.