URBANA, Ill. (AP) – Experts say the weather has taken its toll on the cherry blossoms at the University of Illinois campus in Urbana-Champaign.
Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud is the director of Japan House at the school. She tells the (Champaign) News-Gazette that most, if not all, of Japan House’s cherry blossoms, may not bloom this year. She says the trees “did have buds, but the cold did them in.” Gunji-Ballsrud says the temperature swings are to blame.
Gunji-Ballsrud says it’s “very sad” but “this has happened in the past.”
Japan House has other flowering plants for visitors to see. Those include dogwood, magnolia, and japonica.
