Fleeting beauties

Cherry blossom is a cultural icon in Japan, and a school teacher there has made it his lifelong mission to ensure the longevity of the Japanese cherry tree by raising a series of remarkable hybrids

- VAL BOURNE

Gardeners across the world anticipate the arrival of cherry blossom every year, because it proves that spring has really sprung. However, you may not realise that many named Japanese cherries were originally collected as spontaneous seedlings in the Japanese countryside over centuries. Constant propagation and their age has tended to diminish their vigour and health, but a number of new, hybrid flowering cherries, incorporating the best qualities of both parents have been raised by a retired school teacher named Masatoshi Asari.

As a young man, Mr Asari was one of several volunteer custodians who looked after an important collection of sakura (flowering cherries) planted in Matsumae Park in Hokkaido. His family had suffered greatly during the Second World War, and he wanted to create something beautiful following this difficult chapter in Japanese history. In the late 1950s, he began to hybridise some of the heritage cherries, creating a series of healthy and vigorous cultivars known as Matsumae cherries. Over a long period - he is now in his early nineties - Mr Asari named more than 100 cultivars, and his work earned him the title of Sakura Mo, or protector of cherry trees, in his homeland.