Japan will give the U.S. 250 new cherry trees to plant at Tidal Basin

The blooms on the 3,000 cherry trees Japan gave to the United States more than a century ago have become a quintessential marker of spring in the nation’s capital.

Now, Japan is sending 250 more cherry trees to Washington, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday during a visit to the White House. Many of the trees, a gift Kishida said would commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary in two years, will be planted at the Tidal Basin near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.