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Hiroshima citizens plant 37 A-bombed cherry trees in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

by Uzaemonnaotsuka Tokai, Staff Writer

On February 27, Hiroshima citizens planted 37 seedlings from branches grafted from A-bombed cherry trees in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The city plans to transplant a total of 120 cherry trees over the next three years as the vigor of the cherry trees in the park has been in decline. Roughly 120 people took part in the planting in the hope that A-bombed cherry trees, symbols of Hiroshima's reconstruction, can continue to bloom for the next generation.

The participants learned how to transplant the seedlings from staff members of a gardening company and divided into four groups for the work. They shoveled the earth, mixed in fertilizer, and planted the 37 seedlings that had grown to one to two meters in height since the grafting took place about two years ago.

In the park stand about 300 cherry trees, which were planted with the use of donations from political and financial circles during the 1950s. The life span of a cherry tree is usually believed to be 50 to 100 years, but the soil in the park is prone to be short of nutrients as fallen leaves are raked away. Moreover, as tourists tread down the dirt, the growing conditions suffer and the cherry trees have clearly been weakening.

The city will therefore replace 120 cherry trees in the park with seedlings derived from branches grafted from A-bombed cherry trees in the compound of Hiroshima City Hall in downtown Hiroshima. Mutsumi Sunada, 38, a participant in the planting and a housewife in Nishi Ward, said hopefully, "I'd like these seedlings to grow big and bloom in this park, a place many people seeking peace will visit."

(Originally published on February 28, 2010)

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