Cherry blossom season has arrived in Washington, D.C., where pink and white flowers dot thousands of trees around the city as this year’s peak bloom approaches. To celebrate the iconic springtime sight, locals and tourists alike can participate in the National Cherry Blossom Festival, an annual event series that runs for four weeks and features a mix of art, music, food and more.

Originally a gift from Japan to the United States, the capital’s cherry blossoms appear along the Tidal Basin and in parks near several of the capital’s monuments and memorials. 

Images show buds unfurling on cherry trees around the Tidal Basin, where flowering branches create some dazzling views in the foreground of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. This picture was taken Friday, March 21, when peak bloom had not even arrived yet:

The National Park Service determines the cherry blossoms’ “peak bloom” date by predicting when 70% of the blossoms on the Yoshino cherry trees, which are the most common type of cherry tree planted along the Tidal Basin, will be open. 

Typically, peak bloom occurs between the last week of March and the first week of April, according to the park service, which notes that forecasting the peak is impossible to do more than 10 days ahead of time. The average peak bloom date falls on April 3, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which similarly advises that the exact timing varies from year to year because warmer temperatures can encourage an earlier bloom. 

Peak bloom is expected to happen sooner than the average date in 2025, with the park service estimating it will occur at some point between this Friday, March 28, and next Monday, March 31. The Yoshino trees usually bloom over the course of multiple days.

The park service’s National Mall branch announced Sunday that D.C.’s cherry trees had reached “stage 5 – Puffy white,” which is the final stage before peak bloom.

“The blossoms are starting to show, now we’re just waiting on them to open,” the agency wrote in a social media post. “Peak Bloom is next!”

There are a multitude of opportunities for people to enjoy the cherry blossoms in D.C. before they disappear for the year. The city’s Cherry Blossom Festival offers an extensive lineup of events, which are mostly free and pay homage to the city’s culture and history. 

Held to commemorate the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo’s then-mayor Yukio Ozaki to Washington, D.C., the festival draws more than 1.5 million to a range of programs, according to its website. The events include a kite festival and the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade.

Jeff Reinbold, the superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, said in a statement that instilling community-wide appreciation for the cherry trees is a big part of the festival’s mission.

“The National Park Service takes great pride in the work we do to care for the stars of this festival – the 3,700 cherry trees, which are both natural and cultural treasures of our city and our nation,” Reinbold said. “We encourage all visitors to the Festival to be good stewards of the trees and join us as “cherry blossom protectors” to help us preserve them for future generations and Festivals.”