The cherry blossoms are here
Justin Smith and Tara Tanico were engaged Sunday under a cherry blossom tree in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. (Photos by Kathleen Bulson)
Tara Tanico, 24, strolled down an oak-tree-lined path at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden holding hands with her new fiance Justin Smith, 32. The longtime Manhattan couple had just gotten engaged under a pink cherry-blossom tree, a proposal that Tanico said she was not expecting. “I asked her if she’d spend the rest of her life with me,” says Smith.
The couple was among the New Yorkers who braved the chill for the second day of Hanami, the Japanese tradition of appreciating the cherry blossoms -- and a traditional sign of spring in New York..
The garden has 42 varieties of blossoms on 52 acres with several prime locations, but so far only a few trees have blossomed. The festival continues through May 11.
The entrance near the parking lot gate has several trees in full bloom, including a light pink Everblooming Cherry. The Cherry Walk is still bare, but three Weeping Spring Cherry trees are in bloom nearby at the Cherry Esplanade.
Edward Ziff, 65, a regular at the garden, sat on a bench eating lunch, and catching up on work. The Manhattan resident often visits on weekends, cherishing the peace and the abundance of flowers that he can’t find in Manhattan parks.
The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden offers more of the Hanami vibe. Gary and Barb Siebert, of Illinois, were visiting with their daughter Erin Simpson, 25 and her husband Todd Simpson, 25. The four rested in the viewing pavilion to admire the fish and ducks in the pond, visible through the slats in the wooden benches. Across the pond a torii, a Japanese gateway, marked the entrance
Farrel Duncan, 36 and Leila Barratt-Denyer, 39, a Clinton Hill couple, commemorated their relationship’s second anniversary with a picnic under a Japanese Flowering Cherry tree, which is where they had one of their first date.
“With only a few trees [blooming], you appreciate it more. You can really take it in,” Duncan said.
-- Kathleen Bulson
Comments (2)
SO very happy for both of you. Your both wonderful people and deserve nothing but happiness, good health and success..
Congradulations.
Justin and Tara:
Congratulations on your engagement. The setting for the proposal was beautiful and I am sure will add to beautiful memories of special moments and times! Best wishes!
Love Aunt Bertie