Cherry Blossom

The beautiful ornamental cherry trees at the West Street end of Ryde Cemetery are now in full bloom and as the month progresses, gusts of wind will blow the petals like pink snowflakes across the road, the cemetery main carriageway and blanket nearby graves.

A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura. Many of the varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit.

The transience of the blossoms, their extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality; for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic, and have been utilized often in art and film, as well as at musical performances for ambient effect, primarily in Japan but spreading to become popular internationally.