Yoshinos at Central Park: 4/4/26

We've had so much warm weather this spring, that the Yoshino cherry trees in Central Park bloomed early.

Needless to say, a trip to the park to check them out was in order.

I went by Park Avenue on the way over, but saw only one blooming tree – so far.

 Meanwhile the view of the park from 72^nd and Madison was almost as pretty as it was during the white out in December.

That’s because Olmsted and Vaux had the foresight to plant a bunch of Yoshino cherry trees at the entrance to the park on 5^th Avenue.

I love those guys.

Also blooming were the white magnolias.

At 8 am on a beautiful Saturday morning.

Central Park was definitely the place to be.

Before the park got even more crowded, and the skies clouded up.  😊

Here are some more pics of spring in Central Park…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/central-park-42719.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/03/almost-spring-in-central-park.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/04/central-park-4123.html

Cheers!

PJ

 

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

Central Park Okame trees – 3/31/26

 

When I saw that the forsythia in Central Park was blooming,

I knew it was time to head over to start enjoying spring.

I decided to start the season by going to the Upper West Side to check out the Okame cherry trees.

They bloom from 86^th Street to 96^th Street, across the reservoir from the Guggenheim Museum.

The view of them with the El Dorado in the background is a NYC classic.

Despite groundhog predictions, we’re actually having an early spring.

Some years I have to wear long undies when I photograph spring trees in the park.

This year – t-shirt weather!

But it’s a double-edged sword.  Heat means that the flowering trees and spring flowers won’t last long.

Don’t dawdle or you might miss the show!

Here are some previous blogs from spring in Central Park…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-perfect-spring-day-in-central-park.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/central-park-41019.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2021/04/41121-spring-in-central-park-2021.html

Cheers!

PJ

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

Central Park – 4/8/25

It’s been a cold rainy spring in NYC.

 

Not exactly a surprise since that’s what most NYC springs are like.

Then it goes immediately to hot and humid. ☹

But we did get a sunny morning last week, so I headed to Central Park to enjoy the early blooming spring trees –

mostly cherries

but also white and pink magnolias.

I see that I posted a set of pics from roughly the same time last year.

But that day, the temperature went up to 70 degrees.

Here’s hoping that we get a day like that next week.

I could see that the yellow magnolias were all budding and almost ready to go.  Fingers crossed.

Here are some previous blogs from spring in Central Park.

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2024/04/central-park-4924.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2015/04/white-magnolias-2.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-perfect-spring-day-in-central-park.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2021/04/41121-spring-in-central-park-2021.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/central-park-42719.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/04/central-park-4123.html

 

Happy Spring!

PJ

 

© 2025 PJ Lehrer

Central Park - 4/9/24

When the temperature hit the 70’s on Tuesday, everyone who could headed to Central Park to play.

I was one of the lucky ones. 😊

The Yoshino Cherry trees on Pilgrim Hill were peaking.  And they were truly stunning.

Given their convenient location at 5^th Avenue and 72^nd Street they were also very popular.

A photo including the statue is of course mandatory when visiting.

Picnicking is optional.

At Bethesda Fountain magnolias and forsythia were blooming -

 and artists were doing their thing.

This bridal couple really lucked out.

Central Park is the best.

Here are some other blogs featuring spring in Central Park…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2015/04/white-magnolias-2.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-perfect-spring-day-in-central-park.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2021/04/41121-spring-in-central-park-2021.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/central-park-42719.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/04/central-park-4123.html

Enjoy!

PJ

 

© 2024 PJ Lehrer

Mother’s Day in Central Park

 

NYC had great weather for Mother’s Day this year, so everyone headed for Central Park. 

The tone was mostly mellow, if you don’t count the occasional traffic jam at the light. 

Since it was fairly cool, the basketball, volleyball and baseball courts/fields were all full. 

 

But who needs a ball field? 

There was plenty of picnicking, book reading

and tree climbing going on as parents interacted with their kids. 

Apparently this one was far less enthused about having his portrait sketched than his family was. 

 

There was even some kite flying, although it wasn’t really breezy enough for that.

But the strangest sight was four beautifully curated picnic set-ups that were completely unoccupied.  People passing by wondered aloud about their significance. 

One guessed that it might be a test to see if people would mess up the displays.  Perhaps.  Certainly no one touched them while I was there.  New Yorker’s can actually be considerate that way. Who knew? 😉

Some other blogs from Central Park in the spring…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2021/04/41121-spring-in-central-park-2021.html 

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-perfect-spring-day-in-central-park.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/central-park-42719.html

 

I hope all the moms had a great day!

Cheers!

PJ

 

© 2023 PJ Lehrer