The Cherry on Top: One Man’s Dedication
One of the coolest parts of my job is meeting Gardeners. Most of the time it’s me knocking on their doors to ask for a few clippings for my artwork. To this day I’ve never been rejected. Almost every single one of them has not only welcomed me into their gardens but also into their beautiful homes. Gardeners are among the most giving people, and they love talking about their flowers.
This garden visit was a bit different.
Like a two mile stretch of beautiful Cherry Blossoms kind of different…
I hope this story inspires you. Living in a world of instant gratification can make us impatient and less considerate. How will your choices impact your community? We must think about that in our work, our investments, and in our day to day lives. Your choices are not just your choices. We live in this world with many other humans.
Every choice we make can have long term consequences, both good and bad. Hopefully this story will motivate you to try to make changes for the better.
Happiness, hope, and healing. Those very sentiments inspired Joe Zanghi to plant cherry trees in his newly adopted town of Cherry Hill, New Jersey back in 1973. For nearly five decades, each spring has been marked with a riotous bloom of pink blossoms, but their beauty began with tragedy. The town made national headlines when six people were killed and six were wounded during a shooting at a local office park. Joe didn’t want Cherry Hill’s name synonymous with tragedy, so he set about with a plan to beautify and connect the neighborhood.
“We were a new family, and we were proud to be here,” the now 87-year-old says. “We knew we had to come up with something that would change the people with this bad news. We had to come up with something that would last, so they’d come back every year.”
Joe Zanghi turned to the town’s name for a little inspiration. “There used to be a little farmhouse near Chapel Avenue that had rows of cherry trees and people came from all over to visit. The history of Cherry Hill was that farmhouse, so we picked up on it.”
Picked up on it is an understatement. “I personally planted 1,400 trees,” he shares. Joe ignited the neighborhood, enlisting help from neighbors, the town’s fire department, “even the nuns were planting trees,” he laughs.
The trees line a two-mile route along Chapel Avenue and have been an annual symbol of the arrival of spring for more than four decades. The magnificent blooms draw people from all over the region who come to catch a glimpse of the fleeting flowers (they last about one week).
Joe, now 87, planted his last tree in 2014, but hopes that a new group of citizens will continue the tradition. “My hope is that they’ll see it was a great idea—a way of bringing the community together—and keep it going.”
Sadly, some of the original trees have been removed over time due to town development, but each April, for one week, more than 1,000 trees harken the arrival of spring and prove that one person can indeed make a meaningful, and beautiful, impact on the world around him.
Written by Nancy Depalma
Photos by our talented photographer Amy Franz Thomas
It was truly an honor to meet Joe Zanghi. I got to make one of my favorite plaster pieces of all time with flowers from a tree that he had personally planted decades ago. This piece holds a special place in my heart, and I’m delighted to be able to share this gorgeous print of it with you.
