IN THE GARDENS
A BLOSSOMINGCherry blossom season is a OBSESSION magical time of year at Kew. Biographer Naoko Abe explores its joys, and reveals how one man’s love for flowering cherries changed the face of spring
Early bloomer
Prunus ‘Okame’ has masses of pink, petite single flowers in early spring and is usually one of the first cherries to flower at Kew. Amateur horticulturist Collingwood Ingram artificially Jacky Parker/Getty Images Parker/Getty Jacky created this hybrid from two
different species. Photo:
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Sweet and fragrant
Prunus × yedoensis ‘Somei-yoshino’ is the most popular flowering cherry tree in Japan and produces almond-scented pale pink flowers, which fade to white. You can see some in the Rose Garden at Kew. ou can’t help but be uplifted by the THE MAN WHO BROUGHT US BLOSSOMS sight of cherry blossoms. They announce the The spectacle of fully opened blossoms timely arrival of spring with an inspirational on Kew’s 570 cherry trees owes a lot to a array of candyfloss colours, shapes and formidable British amateur horticulturist fragrances. If you wander down Cherry called Captain Collingwood Ingram, or Walk at Kew Gardens, between March and ‘Cherry’ Ingram, as he is better known. He May, prepare to be lured into a wonderland fell in love with Japanese flowering cherries of diversity and enchantment. Somehow in the 1920s when they were relatively the knowledge that the blossoms appear so unknown in the West and, he feared, at risk of fleetingly – typically lasting ten days to two extinction in Japan itself because the nation weeks – only enhances their beauty. was entirely focused on modernisation and Cherry blossoms are celebrated in one of had no appetite to preserve cherry varieties. the world’s oldest novels, The Tale of Genji, Determined to save them, he travelled across which was probably written a millennium ago the country on foot, on horseback and by ship in Japan. The country’s enduring passion for and car to find different varieties. these flowers is reflected today in thehanami Born in 1880 into a wealthy Victorian festival – in Japanese, hana means flower and family, Ingram was a dedicated naturalist. mi means to see – where tens of millions of As a boy, his passion was ornithology but he people picnic under the canopies of wispy turned into a plantsman and became a world pink and white blossoms. Special weather authority on flowering cherries. In 1919, he forecasts even track the progress of blossom and his family moved to The Grange, a large time across the country. The hanami tradition house in the village of Benenden, Kent. On Ingram (below) brought is at least 1,200 years old: in the ancient his cherry hunting trip to Japan in 1926, back many cherry tree varieties from Japan to capital of Kyoto, court aristocrats liked to he brought back the scions, or branches, of plant in his own garden party underneath the blossoms. cherry trees to graft and plant in his garden. Throughout Japanese history, the cherry At its peak, it contained about 130 different blossoms symbolised positive aspects of life, cherry species and cultivars, the most in the such as peace, love and fresh beginnings – world. From there, cherry blossoms spread Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram created the hybrid both the school and business year begin in to every corner of the United Kingdom. Prunus ‘Kursar’ (right) April in Japan. But the blossoms also signified His book Ornamental Cherries (1947) was the life’s transience. Before and during World definitive English-language guide to flowering War II, the Japanese military used the cherry blossoms. ‘Without Ingram’s symbolism of the blossoms’ short life to imbue a deadly ideology. TREE SAVIOUR knowledge, passion Today, you can enjoy hanami in many parts The great white cherry (Prunus ‘Taihaku’) is of Kew (see page 28 for a guide to where to a highlight of Cherry Walk for many visitors. and determination, walk). The most famous area, Cherry Walk, This variety became extinct in Japan but was dates back to the beginning of the 20th saved by Ingram, who spent five years trying Kew Gardens would century when William Jackson Bean, later to ensure its survival in its homeland. He Anneliese Gruenwald-Maerkl, Amana images inc./Alamy Stock Photo, Penguin Books Ltd to become the Arboretum’s curator, started rediscovered it growing in Sussex and after look very different today’ planting the trees. taking cuttings, reintroduced this beautiful Photos:
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tree to the world. He was also responsible for bringing the ‘Asano’ variety to Britain – you can see these dark-pink chrysanthemum- like cherries in Asano Avenue next to the Temperate House at Kew. Ingram found the tree in a village near Mount Fuji in 1926 during the last of his three trips to Japan. He named ‘Asano’ after the samurai hero, Naganori Asano, of the Forty-Seven Ronin saga. Ingram discovered Kew Gardens as a child. He often came to the Gardens when visiting the London home of his father, William, a Liberal politician who owned the Illustrated London News. A lifelong devotee of Kew, Ingram worked closely with its directors, curators and researchers for 60 years. Documents preserved in Kew’s Archives show that the Gardens played an important role in enabling Ingram to create his cherry garden, sending him grafts of varieties, and that he provided staunch species (P. incisa) and the Taiwan cherry, support for Kew’s own collection in return. which he named after a Japanese goddess of In August 1923, for example, Ingram good fortune and mirth. sent seeds of the Himalayan cherry Creating these hybrids was a painstaking, (Prunus cerasoides also known as P. puddum) intricate process. In his writings, Ingram to Bean. Accompanying the parcel was a described how he collected pollen from the hand-written note that read: ‘If you succeed Temperate House. When the Taiwan cherry in raising plants, perhaps you will be able was blossoming, he shook the pollen from the to let me have a few if mine fail. I am most flower’s ripe anthers onto pieces of tissue anxious to get hold of this beautiful cherry.’ paper, folded the papers carefully and placed Ingram sent living specimens from his them in a Thermos flask, with a pinch of garden to Kew too. One, dispatched in 1927, calcium chloride at the bottom to absorb any was a clove cherry (P. apetala), a species that humidity. Then he kept the pollen dry for Ingram first introduced to England. several weeks until the Kurile or Fuji species were ready to be fertilised. CREATING NEW CHERRIES Ingram died, at the ripe old age of 100, in He was the first person in the world to 1981. Without his knowledge, passion and artificially produce hybrids of cherries. determination, Kew Gardens – and, for that Two notable successes came about only matter, the entire landscape of Britain – would because the tropical Taiwan cherry (Prunus look very different today. To understand why campanulata) grew in the Temperate House. he was so dedicated – and why Kew was so Double header Keen to create something of unusual beauty, delighted to help him – all you have to do is let Collingwood Ingram brought he hybridised the Taiwan cherry with the the blossoms work their magic. the Japanese flowering Kurile cherry (P. nipponica var. kurilensis) to cherry variety Prunus ‘Asano’ form what he named ‘Kursar’. (This couldn’t Naoko Abe is a journalist and author of the to Britain, after discovering acclaimed book ‘Cherry’ Ingram: The Englishman the tree in Japan in 1926. have happened naturally because they grew Who Saved Japan’s Blossoms. Look out for the new Enjoy its clusters of double P Tomlins/Alamy Stock Photo thousands of miles apart.) Ingram also paperback edition, published by Vintage, in Kew’s rose-pink flowers along created ‘Okame’, a cross between the Fuji shops from 19 March, RRP £10.99 Asano Avenue at Kew. Photo:
26 | KEW.ORG SPRING 2020 | 27 Take a cherry blossom walk Here’s where to see beautiful blossom displays in the Gardens – whatever time you’ve got to spare
5 minutes 15 minutes 20-25 minutes 25 minutes+
From Victoria Plaza, walk to the From the Rose Garden stroll along Continue through the Temperate From the end of Cherry Walk, it’s Rose Garden behind the Cherry Walk. The Great Storm of House for the final stretch of just a short step to the tranquil Palm House (above) to see some October 1987 severely damaged the Cherry Walk towards the Pagoda. Japanese Landscape where of Kew’s newest cherries. In May cherries and the current Here you’ll find a wonderful you can contemplate the 2017, a cherry-loving group from Cherry Walk was laid out in the early selection of varieties, including Chokushi-Mon (Gateway of the Gifu prefecture in Japan donated 1990s, with the help of the Sakura Prunus ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ (above), Imperial Messenger) and see the 35 trees of the popular ‘Somei- Bank of Japan. Continue past P. ‘Ichiyo’, and P. ‘Hokusai’ with its great white cherry (Prunus yoshino’ variety to Kew as a symbol King William’s Temple and beyond pale-pink blossoms (Collingwood ‘Taihaku’) (above), with its showy of friendship. These trees add towards the Temperate House – Ingram named it after the Japanese pure-white blooms, which was stunning seasonal colour to this here you’ll find Asano Avenue printmaker Katsushika Hokusai). saved by Ingram. You’ll also find part of the Gardens. (above and main picture). This is a great spot for a picnic too. P. ‘Collingwood Ingram’ here. Christina Harrison, Andrew McRobb, Jeff Eden, Ellen McHale/RBGKew, Sveta Zarzamora/AdobeStock
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Cherry blossom sling THERE ARE NOW Sip a spring cocktail 161 TREES OF Stop for a refreshing tipple among the cherry blossoms. At Kew’s 63 VARIETIES Pavilion Bar and Grill, you can try our Japanese inspired cherry blossom AND SPECIES ON infused gin with grapefruit oils, pressed citrus, yuzu and soda. Served long, over CHERRY WALK AND ice with a blossom garnish. A S A N O AV E N U E .