The chief horticulturist at the National Park Service has made his prediction, and he's sticking with it: The cherry blossoms will bloom next week and peak in early April.
As tourists arrive for tomorrow's start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, Rob DeFeo, the Park Service sage on all matters concerning the bloom, checked to see whether the forecast he gave three weeks ago still holds.
| | | | | | | | | | ___ Cherry Blossoms 2005___ 
Get a list of events and make plans to celebrate D.C.'s annual spring festival. Full cherry blossom coverage
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For decades, strolls along the Washington Tidal Basin have been a rite of spring.
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Interactive panorama from the National Mall during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
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What he saw, he said after a walk around the Tidal Basin yesterday, were trees dotted by green florets, an indication that they are in the second of five stages that culminate with their peak bloom, which he said would come between April 4 and 9.
"We're going to get some warm weather, and they're ready to go from the creeping phase to leaping," DeFeo said. "I can almost guarantee you that the peak will happen the second week of the festival."
Of course, he said, a spate of unseasonably warm weather could speed matters, as in 2000 when the trees bloomed March 17. Or a prolonged wintry blast could slow them, as in 1993 when they bloomed April 11.
"It's not rocket science," he said of his forecasts.
About 1 million tourists are expected for the 93rd annual festival, which runs until April 10 and celebrates the 3,000 cherry trees that Japan gave to the people of Washington in 1912.
The festival will feature 90 events, including a fireworks show on the Southwest waterfront, a kite festival on the Mall and a Japanese street festival along Pennsylvania Avenue.
Tickets are sold out for the opening ceremony, at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. The event will feature musical performances and an appearance by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).
The festival's centerpiece event, perhaps, is the Cherry Blossom parade, scheduled for April 9 along Constitution Avenue. Organizers said they expect the festival's largest crowds to descend on the District for the parade. Mickey Mouse is this year's grand marshal.
Bill Line, a Park Service spokesman, said crowds already are beginning to arrive. The other day, he said, he counted 19 tour buses parked on Ohio Drive south of the Lincoln Memorial.
"We are seeing evidence of the return of people," he said.
In time for the tourist season, the Park Service plans to reopen the Washington Monument to visitors April 1, although the 55-acre grounds will be closed until June. Timed tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at a temporary kiosk on 15th Street NW.
The monument has been closed for security upgrades since Sept. 4.
The Park Service also plans to fill the reflecting pool on the Mall at the Lincoln Memorial and turn on the fountain at the National World War II Memorial, Line said.
To ease access to the Jefferson Memorial, the Park Service announced the start of a shuttle bus service from public parking lots 350 yards away, between the spans of the 14th Street bridge.
The shuttle -- which will cost $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and $1.50 for children 12 and younger round trip -- will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily during the festival.
The parking lot at the memorial has been closed for two years because of security concerns, Line said.
