Rather than Jacarandas in Mexico City, most people think of Washington DC or Tokyo when they think of beautiful blossoms in the spring. In fact, people swarm to these destinations every spring for a glimpse of the cherry blossoms. They wait in lines and eagerly look for maps of the best places to take pictures. In Mexico City, we have our own incredible season that´s arguably a better option. This is jacaranda season in Mexico City. The crowds don´t exist and the trees are for everyone, and they create an incredible carpet of lavender blossoms on every block. They also bloom for longer. In Mexico City, the season is around March 1 – April 15. The best time to view them is mid-March around the spring equinox (which happened to be this week), but they are around for a while. Whereas cherry blossoms only last anywhere from four days to two weeks. So come to Mexico City next time!
The Story of the Jacarandas
Jacarandas weren´t always a staple of this city, but rather became a part of it. In 1930, President Pascual Ortiz Rubio visited Washington DC during cherry blossom season and wanted the same effect for Mexico City. So the government of Mexico asked Tatsugoro Matsumoto, a Japanese immigrant who cared for the Chapultapec gardens, and later, the presidential palace gardens, to plant cherry trees in the city. However, cherry trees require a sub-zero temperature drop in the winter to bloom in the spring. Therefore, jacarandas, rather than cherry trees, whose origins are in the Amazon, became the blossoming trees of Mexico City. Every spring, they signal the beginning of warm weather with a carpet of lavender flowers.
Who was Tatsugoro Matsumoto?
Matsumoto was born in Tokyo in 1861, and his profession in Mexico was listed as ¨gardener.¨ However, he was actually a landscape architect for the imperial palace. In 1888, he moved to Peru at the behest of a German businessman Oscar Herren to design a Japanese garden. José Landero y Coss, a Mexican rancher, came to Lima and was impressed by Matsumoto´s work. So he hired him to come to Mexico to design a garden at his residence in Pachuca. Matsumoto also worked on several projects in the United States.
In 1896, Matsumoto permanently emigrated to Mexico, and in 1900, he was hired by Porfirio Diaz to design the floral arrangements at the presidential palace in Chapultepec Castle. By the 1930s the Matsumotos owned over ten large nurseries in Mexico City and employed over 200 Mexican employees. By this time, Matsumoto and his son had built a large and successful business, and had significant wealth of their own.
In the 1940s, the Mexican government required all Japanese to relocate to Mexico City and Guadalajara due to World War II. Matsumoto became an advocate for the Japanese in Mexico, and he was a founding member of the Japanese Committee of Mutual Aid. During this time, he housed over 900 Japanese residents in his residence at Hacienda de Batán.
When & Where Can I See Jacarandas?
When
In Mexico City, the best time to view the jacarandas is around March 15 – 30th. They begin to bloom around March 1st and last roughly through April 15th. Around Semana Santa they´re at their peak. If you go to Antigua, Guatemala during this time, they bloom slightly earlier, around March 1 – 15th is the peak. They are also incredibly beautiful in Antigua.
Where
Mexico City
- Parque Alameda
- Avenida Reforma – go on Sundays during Paseo Domenicale
- Avenida Veracruz
- Fuente de Cibeles
Antigua
- Jacarandas y Gravileas gated community, We stayed at Hotel Palacio Doña Beatriz (affiliate link) in this gated community during jacaranda season and not only was the hotel excellent, it´s also surrounded by the most beautiful landscape.
Sources
- Tatsugoro Matsumoto Wikipedia page
- ‘Merchant of Landscapes’: The Lasting Footprint of a Japanese Gardener in Mexico
- ‘Vendedor de paisajes’: la huella perdurable de un migrante japonés en México
