Ed and I returned to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It’s cherry blossom time. Last year the pandemic closed the gardens, and nobody except for BBG staff got to see the blossoms of the cherry esplanade bloom.

This year the Sakura Matsuri Festival – a weekend affair coinciding with cherry blossom season, with performances and stands and massive crowds – was again cancelled; but the gardens have been open to the public – with limits – so this year the blossoms could be enjoyed again by the public.

Ed and I got our ticket for Sunday morning, which also just happened to be our anniversary. It was an overcast sky, which makes for a less vibrant viewing of the cherry blossoms. But that will make for a different set of pictures of them, since I have already posted sunny views here and here (that last one also includes the Sakura Matsuri Festival) …

Perhaps it’s fitting that this year’s views of the cherry blossoms are not so sunny, but a more cautious burst of color in a grayer world, like a hopeful pink emerging from a long gloom…

The blossoms at the esplanade are in first bloom now. Peak bloom will likely happen by this weekend.

The cherry blossoms are of course not the only attractions this time of year. Here are some other views of the gardens than shone even if the sun didn’t.

This last one may also be my favorite of the day’s crop.