大象传媒

National Trust to plant 4 million blossoming trees across UK

people rowing boats through japanese sakuraImage source, Koichi Kamoshida
Image caption,

Could the UK eventually have a blossom season like Japan?

Millions of tourists head to Japan every year to see the cherry blossom trees, as a part of the country's Hanami festival.

But could we start to see this in the UK?

The National Trust, which looks after lots of gardens, historical buildings and natural spaces in the UK, has a plan to plant millions of blossom trees over the next few years.

It hopes to bring in lots of tourists who want to check out the beautiful blossoms in spring.

Image source, Dan Kitwood

4 million

This is how many trees the National Trust plans to plant around England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2030.

They will all be blossoming trees - which means in spring they should be covered in beautiful flowers.

Lots of blossoming trees have already been planted in Birmingham, London, Nottingham and Newcastle.

Have you seen any blossom near you this year? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page!

Image source, Europa Press News
Image caption,

Blossom flowers attract bees, which help the trees to pollinate

Why do trees blossom?

Beautiful blossom flowers grow on fruit trees every year as a part of a special process called pollination.

A tree grows flowers during Spring. These flowers contain nectar, which insects like bees use as food.

When the bees fly over and feed on the nectar, a substance called pollen sticks to them.

As bees fly from flower to flower, they spread the pollen, which makes a tree produce fruit.

The more beautiful the flowers are - the more likely a bee is to take interest.

Japanese Sakura

Image source, Carl Court

The National Trust hopes to have a blossom season similar to Japan, where lots of tourists come to see the flowering trees.

In Japan there is a special event called Hanami - where people celebrate the beautiful Sakura - which is Japanese for blossom.

Some of the trees only bloom for a few days, which makes the event very popular, as people want to get there in time to see the flowers.

There's even a special forecast in Japan to tell people when is the best time to see the blossom.