Angela Finlayson revels in the beautyof cherry blossom in the Scottishseaside resort of Helensburgh.
THE Japanese custom of hanami, when the country’s cherry trees burst into bloom in a glorious natural spectacle, is well known.
But there’s no need to travel thousands of miles to see an abundance of beautiful spring blossoms.
In 2023, the west coast town of Helensburgh, known as the Garden City of the Clyde, was named the top place in Scotland to see springtime cherry blossom.
The spectacle attracts visitors from far and wide, but hitting on precisely the right time to see the blossom at its best can be tricky.
Lawrence Hill is a director of the Helensburgh Tree Conservation Trust – a charity that cares for the town’s many hundreds of street trees.
He laughs when I ask him when is best to visit.
“That is such a difficult question to answer,” he says. “It can be any time between the third week in March and the middle of April.
“The town used to have a Helensburgh Blossom Festival. The first year went swimmingly and we hit the blossom perfectly.
“The next year, the festival was too early, and the year after that it was too late, so it was changed to be a spring festival instead!
“We just can’t guarantee when the blossom is going to be out.
“It only lasts for three or four days if it’s very windy, but other times it could be two weeks of lovely pink blossom.”
There’s always a real buzz in the town when the trees are in full flower.
“You’ll see people just wandering along, sitting under trees and reading books, having picnics on the grass occasionally,” he adds. “It’s really quite nice, if a bit surreal at times.”
Lawrence’s role involves recommending which species of tree should go where and then organising the planting.
“Whenever we talk about planting trees with residents, they all say, ‘Oh, are you going to give us some cherry blossom?’
“Prunus Kanzan is a popular flowering cherry, but we have also planted many other varieties, including seventy-eight Prunus Umineko, a really nice columnar street tree.
“My favourite tree, though, is Malus Rudolph – we’ve probably planted about a hundred of them around the town.
“They have lovely reddish pink flowers in spring and reddish yellow fruit in autumn, and the leaves turn from copper red to bright green in s
