Courtesy of the National Park Service.

It is officially the other kind of bud season: 70 percent of the Tidal Basin’s cherry trees are showing florets, according to the National Park Service. That puts the blossoms on track for the park service’s predicted peak bloom of April 11-14, and just in time for the annual parade.

It is the latest date for the blossoms to reach this stage in more than ten years (last year, it occurred on March 23).

Some of the flowers are already poking out though, as this photo, dated March 30, shows.

Photo by John Sonderman.