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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2008
CONTACT
Leeann Lavin: 718-623-7289, leeannlavin@bbg.org
Kate Blumm: 718-623-7241, kateblumm@bbg.org
BBG Has Flipped the Switch! The Garden's World-Famous Collection of Cherry Trees is ON!
Brooklyn, NY—May 1, 2008—Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) has virtually flipped the switch—signaling it has "turned on" its iconic Cherry Tree Collection—just in time for "New York's Rite of Spring," this weekend's Sakura Matsuri, May 3 and 4. BBG's Cherry Tree Collection comprises more than 220 flowering ornamental cherry trees of more than 40 kinds. Blooming in stages, the trees provide a continuous display of blossoms over a six-week period running from early April through mid-May. From the early buds that kick off Hanami—the season of "cherry viewing"—to the full blossoms of peak bloom and finally the petals that fall like pink snow to create a delicate "petal carpet," the Garden offers a magic that is not to be missed.
This spring's special time-lapse video was produced by BBG web manager, Dave Allen—who also contributes to the popular CherryWatch map on the BBG website. Allen walks the Collection every morning to determine which trees are in bloom, and then posts updates to CherryWatch so that visitors can track the status of the trees and help plan their visit to BBG. At the same time, the Garden's CherryWatch page receives hundreds of thousands of pageviews during the Hanami season, with visitors logging on from all parts of the world to track the Garden's iconic collection.
BBG is known as a "garden of firsts," and this year the BBG web team wanted to see if they could produce the first time-lapse video of the Garden's famous Cherry Walk. "I mounted a digital still camera on the lamppost opposite Cherry Walk for a one-week period," explained Allen. "I edited out the nighttime sequences, leaving in the first and last nights for effect. The final video offers an exciting way to give people a taste of what they can expect to see when they visit the Garden," he added.
This weekend's Sakura Matsuri festival is May 3 and 4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The original time-lapse video of Cherry Walk offers a glimpse of the heart-stopping beauty to be found in BBG's Cherry Tree Collection. (Video by Dave Allen, BBG web manager; music by Jon Solo.)