Top Favourite Cherry Blossoms: Tai Haku

Tai Haku, the Great White Cherry, is a beautiful cherry blossom tree with an extraordinary story📖 In the early 1900s, the Tai Haku cherry was sadly thought to be extinct in the wild of Japan. But when British botanist Collingwood 'Cherry' Ingram, was invited to address the Japanese Cherry Society, he instantly recognized the Tai-Haku depicted in an old painting🌸Collingwood had actually found the tree previously in a remote garden in Winchelsea, a small town in Sussex! But he did not know the variety - what were the chances!😲
To re-introduce the Tai Haku to Japan, Collingwood carefully took cuttings from the Sussex garden tree, and sent them to Japan in potatoes!🥔This was to keep them moist during the long, slow journey across the world. The cherry re-introduction was a success, thanks to Lord Collingwood. Today, a Tai Haku grown successfully from his first cutting, can still be found in Kyoto!🏯
But how the Tai Haku tree first ended up in Winchelsea, we will never know...
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