Cherry Blossoms: The Power of Impermanence

Look at the cherry blossoms!
Their color and scent fall with them,
Are gone forever,
Yet mindless
The spring comes again.
― Ikkyu   15^th Century Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet

 

There’s just something about the cherry blossom. Going beyond the simple expectation of the fruit to come, they are revered internationally as a symbol of beauty and the short-lived nature of our world. Their power lies in their impermanence, and yet the cycle of seasons brings them back every year. This global phenomenon is played out all over the Yakima Valley every spring.

With orchards galore all around us, we in the Valley see blooms in various colors and at various times throughout the entire spring season, and every year, it’s a moving sight. Driving the highways and byways around the Valley, the trees’ springtime evolution can be witnessed, from the tight fisted cluster of buds showing the return of life to the limbs, to the wide open full blooms exploding like snowballs all over the tree. And then they’re gone. It’s easy to see why, particularly the Japanese, developed an awe tinged respect for the ephemeral blossom.

I met up with Stemilt regional manager and field man Brent Huck earlier this week to have a look at some of the cherry orchards up off of Scenic Drive in Yakima. Stepping out of the truck and into a block of blooming Skeena cherries, Brent said that from full bloom, they can determine, to the day, when harvest will take place. Depending on the variety, typically just over 60 days from flower to fruit. That’s a significant amount of action and growth occurring on the tree in a short period of time. He broke down a blossom for me to reveal the baby cherry inside, set and ready to grow.

Cherries in particular are an incredibly detail oriented crop. I marvel as Brent explains the intricacies of training and how something as simple as adjusting the angle of a branch changes how the sap moves along the limb, altering its growth and fruit production.   Moving onto the slope of a Rainier orchard, just across a dirt road from a Sweetheart block, the low hum of the bees busy with their pollination is all around us. Rainiers in particular need well thought out placement to keep them out of the wind, as their lighter color reveals damage more readily. Bringing a limb down for my closer inspection, he explains the importance of thinning for quality fruit. While “stovepiping” of blooms on a limb is beautiful—this is when the flowers are so dense they actually create a continuous mass of flowers along the branch resembling a stovepipe—it’s not a winner for fruit quality.

With such a tight grow time, there is a lot to stay on top of to ensure amazing fruit emerges on the other end of the season. Weather, monitoring bloom rates, pollination, wind, frost control, sunlight management—all big pieces of the cherry pie that need to be in place so the fruit will set just right. Like the blossom, the cherry itself is transitory. In a time when so much produce is available to us year round, the cherry remains seasonal. This creates an excited fruit-frenzy come June as we try and get our fill before the season is over.

But for now, standing on a block just beginning its bloom on a rim overlooking Cowiche Canyon, I feel I understand the international obsession with the cherry blossoms themselves. Cherished because they don’t last, it’s something that requires enjoying in the moments they are actually with us. When they’re gone, at least we have the consolation of knowing the cherry itself is not far behind.