The Season of Cherry Blossoms is Coming to Seattle!

The Quad in UW and the trees in full bloom

 

“Where would be the best place to enjoy cherry blossoms in Seattle and When?”

Spring in Seattle means sunnier, warmer days, cool breeze, refreshing air, clearer sky, longer days, but most importantly, cherry blossoms! Sadly, I won’t be able to enjoy the most beautiful season of the year in Seattle, but would love to introduce how to enjoy cherry blossoms in Seattle!

My personal recommendation for enjoying cherry blossoms is the University of Washington Seattle Campus (UW). The iconic cherry tress in the Quad begin to bloom from mid-late February. Last year, the tress reached full bloom as of March 11 and were expected to remain in full bloom until the rest of the week. (http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/02/26/2016-uw-cherry-blossom-watch-full-bloom-week-of-march-14/)

Late February

The first week of March

The first week of March

The Quad gets extremely busy and packed with crowds – a group of friends or family having picnic, taking naps and playing frisbee, dogs and puppies running around and couples dressed in wedding dress and tuxedo doing photoshoot – during weekends once the trees reach full bloom. They’re all beautiful scenes in spring and watching the scenes give me smile. Standing in a snow-storm of cherry blossoms when a light breeze hits makes me feel like I live in a fairy-tale world.

The Quad in UW

It could be a bit challenging to take good pictures due to the amount of crowds, so here are my tips for how to get good pictures:

• Visit the Quad early in the morning, or try weekdays, which is much less packed than weekends.
• If possible, try to walk up to the 3rd or 4th floors of the buildings by the Quad, which would give you the chance to photograph the full angle of the Quad 🙂

There are more cherry trees throughout the campus, which usually have later blooming timing than in the Quad. Depending on which areas in campus is, the cherry trees remain in full bloom until the beginning of April.

While I was a student at UW, it’d been a such a joyful experience to watch the trees in buds to full bloom, which was a sign of telling me that winter was getting close to the end and spring was about to begin.

Seattle Downtown

Not only does the Quad in UW have beautiful scenery, but downtown in Seattle gets prettier as well.

Hope this year brings awesome cherry blossoms to Seattle and everyone enjoy the flowers before they’re gone 🙂

 

*Please note that blooming timing varies each year. I can’t ensure how the cherry blossoms would look like now and will be this year. This is based on my experience last few years.