BLOSSOMS ON PATHS LESS TRAVELED (2024)

But word gets around. And every spring, visitors from as close as Chevy Chase and as far as China come to gawk at the cloud of pink and white blossoms that arches the quiet streets.

"It's a bower of beauty, an absolute fairyland," said resident Barbara Libbey, chairman of the Kenwood Citizens' Association beautification committee. "We think ours are prettier."

The Tidal Basin, which burst into full bloom yesterday, may get all the hype -- and with more than 3,700 Japanese cherry trees, it's understandable.

But in a region that is unusually kind to flowering trees, many Washingtonians seek out smaller, lesser-known groves of cherry blossoms -- some planted to emulate the Tidal Basin's glory, but without the tourist gridlock.

Yesterday's warm temperatures, which reached a record-breaking high of 84 degrees at Dulles International Airport, jump-started blossomings at many favorite spots around the area, including Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, and the neighborhoods around Capitol Hill.

"Anyone who wants to see flowering cherries should just get out and poke around," said Melanie Choukas-Bradley, the author of a historical guide to Washington's trees. "Our trees have done better in the city pollution than trees in Japan."

While some of the alternative cherries bloom in sync with their District kin, others typically don't open until several days after the Tidal Basin's fragile blossoms have scattered to the winds.

"We get the people who were too late to see the Tidal Basin," said Ted Libbey, Barbara Libbey's husband, who estimates that Kenwood will reach full bloom on Monday.

More than a decade after the 1912 landscaping of the Tidal Basin made cherry trees wildly popular, the developer of Kenwood planted 1,200 Japanese Yoshinos to lure home buyers to the new neighborhood.

Now, of course, it's not just prospective buyers who flock to the area, but also tour buses and Sunday drivers. Barbara Libbey insists that residents don't mind the traffic, which lasts only as long as the blossoms -- about a week and a half.

"Everybody is delighted that people appreciate our trees. We say, Oh, there are so many crowds!' But we really appreciate that people love our trees, because we do."

Neighborhood youngsters even set up lemonade stands to profit from the hubbub, she said. "This is where Kenwood children first become entrepreneurs."

At the National Arboretum, the collection of cherries is much smaller -- only about 25 to 30 specimens. However, with several different varieties represented in the arboretum's research field, visitors enjoy the contrast of different blossom colors and shapes, said staff member Nancy Luria.

"The later-blooming ones are coming into bloom now," she said. "They will be spectacular."

Like Kenwood, the cherry tree grove at Meadowlark Gardens Regional Park was inspired by the Tidal Basin, albeit on a much smaller scale. About 150 trees, mostly Yoshinos like those in Washington, rim tiny Lake Caroline and Lake Gardner and pepper the surrounding area.

"It's one-hundredth the size, so they put in a corresponding number of trees," said park horticulturist Doris Rodriguez. "Ours are only 10 years old -- they're lower to the ground, so the canopy is not as high."

The crowds, too, are correspondingly smaller, which is just the way many visitors prefer it.

"These trees are on 95 acres, so people really spread out," Rodriguez said. "You never get the thing with people all crowded together."

Choukas-Bradley, who admires the cherry trees that grace the streets surrounding the Library of Congress, said area residents don't need a particular destination if they're seeking the seasonal blooms.

"Often the fun is just seeing an individual tree in someone's yard that's glorious, or stumbling across a little park," she said.

"You should go out and look and let yourself be bowled over by what you see." WASHINGTON AREA BLOSSOMS Here is a partial listing of alternative cherry-blossom sites around the Washington area: 1. Meadowlark Gardens Regional Park, Beulah Road, Vienna, has 220 trees, including Yoshinos and pale-pink Akebonos blossoming now, and white Mount Fuji and hot-pink Kwanzan trees blossoming in about two weeks. The park is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 703-255-3631. 2. Kenwood, a Bethesda neighborhood between Little Falls Parkway and River Road, where 1,200 white-blossomed Yoshino cherry trees line the streets. 3. Brookside Botanical Gardens, Wheaton Regional Park, on Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, has about a dozen trees, including weeping cherries, Sargent cherries and purple plums, which curator Phil Normandy notes are "not cherries but look like them." Open 9 a.m. to sunset. 301-949-8230. 4. Dumbarton Oaks, gardens at 31st and R streets in Georgetown. Open 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in March; open until 6 p.m. starting in April. 202-339-6400. 5. National Arboretum, Northeast Washington between New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road, has 25 to 30 cherry trees of various varieties and colors; open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 202-245-2726. CAPTION: Ted and Barbara Libbey stroll under the canopy of cherry blossoms along Kenwood Avenue in Bethesda. The trees date to the 1920s. CAPTION: Francis Copeland, of Arlington, takes the sun on the back of a boat during a fishing outing on the Potomac with his friends Dave Mort, of Leesburg, and Pat Dunn, of Falls Church. CAPTION: Kim Rodgers, visiting from New York to see the cherry blossoms, found a quiet spot along the Tidal Basin to rest and enjoy the weather. CAPTION: Anthony Upchurch, 4, smiles as he flies a kite near the Washington Monument during an outing with his pre-kindergarten classmates.