In Mexico City, thousands of purple jacaranda flowers have bloomed, bringing colour to the streets, while residents and sightseers in Tokyo are being treated to a surprise with the cherry blossoms flowering early. The two are actually historically related. In the 1930s, then-Mexican President Pascual Ortiz wanted to import Japanese cherry trees, but Japanese landscape architect Tatsugoro Matsumoto recommended jacarandas instead, because he knew the cherry trees would not survive Mexico’s climate.
