Cherry blossoms in Jackson Park in 2021. (Courtesy of Chicago Park District)

Chicago’s mercurial spring weather has once again stymied the cherry blossom trees in Jackson Park.

The trees — nearly 200 of them planted in the Columbia Basin behind the Museum of Science and Industry — won’t reach peak bloom for the second year in a row, the Chicago Park District has announced.

“We were following the buds and then they stopped,” said Karen Szyjka, operations support manager with the Park District.

Unlike other flowering trees such as crab apples, cherry trees are sensitive to temperature and respond to micro-climate fluctuations.

“That’s what makes cherry trees unique,” and a reminder of the “fragility of life,” Szyjka said. “With cherry trees, (the bloom) is a surprise and it’s something to anticipate and to really cherish when you get a big show.”

For a minute, it looked like there would be a big show for Chicagoans, when 70-degree days in late March and early April encouraged several cherry trees to sporadically bud and bloom. But blasts of wind, snow and rain followed and most of the trees skipped the blossoming stage and went straight to leafing out, the Park District said.

Even in Washington, D.C., where the nation’s lauded bloom of nearly 4,000 cherry trees did hit its peak, the news hasn’t been all rosy. More than 150 of the famed trees, which ring the capital city’s Tidal Basin, are being removed as part of a project to raise and rebuild the basin’s seawall. 

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