Cherry Branch Ring | (Prunus × yedoensis)
Designed to look like a cherry branch blowing in the wind, we make this ring with textured flowers and tiny buds in sterling silver. We add little balls of rose gold inside some of the bigger flowers to symbolize the cherries that will begin to grow once those flowers are pollinated. The entire piece is antiqued to highlight the texture.
We live in Virginia and the hundreds of cherry trees that bloom every year in DC have always been an impressive springtime treat for us. They were a gift from the Japanese in 1912, keep reading below to learn more about how they ended up gracing the streets of our capitol.
Sterling silver w/ 14k rose gold accents
Digitally sculpted 3D design
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Tree Diplomacy
Mount Yoshino in Japan, over 30,000 cherry trees grace the land.
We don’t usually think of plants when we think of diplomacy, but our swampy capitol certainly need some beautification in the late 1800’s. The wife of the ambassador to Japan during these days, Eliza Scidmore, had fallen in love with cherry trees she saw in Japan. One site in particular, Mount Yoshino pictured above, has over 30,000 flowering cherry trees and is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 1885, she petitioned the Army Superintendent of the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds to plant cherry trees along the reclaimed waterfront of the Potomac River. She was rebuffed, but continued to propose the idea to every superintendent for the next 24 years. During the years that followed, she held fundraisers to purchase more saplings, bought some with her own money, and threw garden parties to view the grounds and promote the idea. Finally in 1909 she wrote a letter to the wife of president Taft to inform her of her latest fundraising plan and Mrs. Taft latched onto the idea.
With her help the two women were able to advance the idea into reality. In 1910, The Embassy of Japan gifted the first set of 2000 saplings, but they were infested with pests and had to be destroyed to protect local farmers. But by Valentine’s day of 1912 over 3000 cherry trees had successfully arrived in Seattle, and were shipped by train to DC. The first two trees were planted by Mrs. Taft and the wife of the Japanese Ambassador, Viscountess Chinda. Those two trees still stand at the terminus of 17th street SW. Planting the rest of the trees took 8 years, 1800 of them were of the Yoshino variety, a cultivar developed in Japan.
In 2012, for the 100 year anniversary, the US returned the favor, gifting over 3000 flowering dogwood trees to be planted in Japan. These trees went to 84 different sites across the island, with many of them ending up in the Tohuku recovery region that was most severely effected by the 2012 earthquake and subsequent Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.