Bell Tower:  Allē of Cherries

13. Allée of Yoshino Cherries (Prunus x yedoensis) aka “The Cherry Cloud.” At the tall bell tower, look due west and you’ll see this allée of 31 Yoshino cherry trees. They were a gift from Lloyd MacDonald, a longtime Dartmouth resident. When he planted them in 1991 along with other ornamental fruit saplings, his idea was to begin a nursery to learn which types might thrive. Some species didn’t thrive, but the Yoshino and Kwanzan Cherries (#14) did very well. The Yoshinos were transplanted to the UMD Campus 18 years later. Each root ball was 4’x7’ & weighed over 1.5 tons! Many of the famous cherry trees in Washington D.C. near the Lincoln Memorial are Yoshinos, originally a gift from Japan in 1912.