Cherry Park

The City of Lahti ran a participatory budgeting campaign in 2020, in which local residents were invited to submit and vote for ideas on how the city could be improved. One of the winning ideas was to establish a Cherry Park in Lahti.

A total of 55 saplings were planted, of which 25 were donated by the Hokkaido Finland Society. The Lahti Poetry Marathon also contributed to the design of the park.

The appeal of cherry trees stems from their majestic blooms in the spring and the stunning colours of their leaves in the autumn. The trees usually bloom towards the end of May, and the cherry blossom season lasts just under a week.

The species chosen for Lahti’s Cherry Park are known for their beautiful, pink blooms: Sargent’s Cherry (Prunus sargentii), Accolade Cherry (Prunus ‘Accolade’) and an ornamental cultivar from Hokkaido (Prunus sargentii ‘Mustila’).

The Cherry Park is located right next to Laune Arboretum and Family Park, to the west of the Family Park in the Asemantausta neighbourhood.

Impetus from participatory budgeting

The participatory budgeting campaign allocated the Cherry Park project a budget of EUR 25,000. Establishing a new green space from scratch was not possible within the budget, which is why the plan was to find a location with as much of the infrastructure required already in place. The amount is enough to cover the cost of approximately 40 to 50 cherry trees, paving and a few benches. The budget nevertheless plays an important role in giving impetus to the project. More trees can be planted over time.

Cherry trees have wide crowns and each requires approximately 25 square metres of space to grow, which is why the saplings were planted six to eight metres from each other. The spacing of the saplings is designed to give the appearance of a canopy once the trees are fully grown.