Full photoset is here: Cherry Blossoms 2011, part of the DC Cherry Blossoms Collection.

DC cherry blossom season was a bit unusual this year, with peak bloom starting unseasonably early in the last week of March, then going through a couple of mild freezes at the start of April which put the blossoms in a kind of stasis, prolonging the bloom for a bit. We just had to bundle up more for our yearly Hanami.

Rather than do the usual full clockwise circuit of the Tidal Basin, I found it more pleasant to avoid the tourist crowds around Jefferson Memorial and just hang around the west side of the Tidal Basin, where the oldest cherry blossoms were planted:

Up near the FDR Memorial, we found a foam flower tied to a cherry tree with a ribbon, bearing this message to earthquake-ravaged Japan:

We also found West Potomac Park (along the shores of the river, a bit removed from the National Mall and Tidal Basin) largely peaceful and uncrowded, with its own share of cherry blossom trees:

Always lovely.