<P> In 2005, Japanese cherry trees were presented by Japan to the Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanical Garden in Istanbul, Turkey . Each tree represents one sailor of the frigate Ertogrul which was a famous frigate of the Ottoman Turkish navy . On the way back from a goodwill visit to Japan in 1890 she ran into a typhoon and sank with loss of 587 Ottoman Turkish sailors . That loss is being remembered at every anniversary . The Japanese cherry trees represent memory of those who died and provide remembrance . </P> <P> Batsford Arboretum in Gloucestershire (England), holds the national collection of Japanese village cherries, sato - sakura group . Keele University in Staffordshire (England), has one of the UK's largest collections of flowering cherries, with more than 150 varieties . </P> <P> Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then - growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2,000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910 . These trees were planted in Sakura Park in Manhattan and line the shore of the Tidal Basin and the roadway in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The first two original trees were planted by first lady Helen Taft and Viscountess Chinda on the bank of the Tidal Basin . The gift was renewed with another 3,800 trees in 1965 . In Washington, D.C. the cherry blossom trees continue to be a popular tourist attraction (and the subject of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival) when they reach full bloom in early spring . Just outside of Washington, D.C., the suburb of Kenwood in Bethesda, Maryland has roughly 1,200 trees that are popular with locals and tourists . </P> <P> New Jersey's Branch Brook Park, which is maintained by the Essex County, is the oldest county park in the United States and is home to the nation's largest collection of cherry blossom trees, with about 5,000 . </P>

Where did the cherry blossom trees come from