Welcome to the first Cherry Blossom Watch update for 2014.
As you can see, the trees are still firmly in winter mode and a long way from where they'll be in the spring. In the close-ups, you can see that the very early buds are on the trees. They'll stay in that very early stage for quite a while yet until things start warming up a bit. At the moment it's definitely winter. The weather forecast calls for a decent dump of snow for Washington on Tuesday, perhaps up to 6 inches so.
There's not going to be much to report for a while yet, so for now I'll aim to add an update every couple of weeks, give or take. Once we start getting closer to the bloom period I'll start updating more frequently. But for now, there's not a lot to see.
Want to Help Support DC's Cherry Trees?
If you'd like to help support the care and upkeep of the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin, the Trust for The National Mall has launched an Endow a Cherry Tree Campaign. Donations go to the official Cherry Tree Endowment, which will give the National Park Service additional resources to fund the care, maintenance, and possible replacement of the cherry trees. You can find more information here.
The Trust is dedicated to marshaling private support for maintaining and improving the history National Mall area. I'm not affiliated with the Trust--just an admirer of their efforts.