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First Lady Helen Taft's Luneta; White House History (Number 34) - Photo 8

First Lady Helen Taft's Luneta; White House History (Number 34) - Photo 8

The first shipment of cherry trees arrived from Japan in 1910, but were discovered to be diseased and pest ridden and were destroyed. A second shipment of more than 3,000 Japanese cherry trees arrived in March 1912. Planted on the banks of the Tidal Basin, the trees survived, and as First Lady Helen Taft envisioned, cherry blossom season is celebrated each year in Washington, D.C. This is a colorized photograph of the blooming cherry trees, c. 1920.

Date of Work: c. 1920
Medium: Colorized photograph
Credit: Library of Congress

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