Washington, D.C.’s cherry blossom season has begun, with cherry trees just one step away from peak bloom. The National Park Service, on Sunday, announced the capital’s famed cherry trees have reached “stage 5 – Puffy White” with blossom starting to show.NPS wrote on X, “Now we’re just waiting on them to open.” “Peak Bloom is next!”

D.C.’s famed blossoms, a gift of Japan in 1912, “signal Washington’s beginning of spring with an explosion of life and color that surrounds the Tidal Basin in a sea of pale pink and white blossoms,” NPS says. The tradition of celebrating the cherry blossoms, the national flower of Japan, also originated there, with the tradition of hanami, which translates to flower looking, during which people flock to parks and gardens to admire these beautiful and fragile flowers.

The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C., which celebrates these flowers, and the advent of the warm weather draws millions of visitors each year as they flock to the capital to witness the trees bloom. Last year, 1.6 million visitors visited D.C. and its surrounding areas for cherry blossom season, according to festival organizers and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office.