In 1912 the U.S. received a total of 3,020 cherry trees of several varieties taken from a grove along Japan's Arakawa River. The U.S. First Lady Helen Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two of these trees in March of that year on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin.

Today more than 3,700 trees grow around the basin and among a handful of sites within Washington, D.C. The two original trees still stand just south of Independence Avenue and are marked by bronze plaques.

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