WASHINGTON — Stumpy lives on!
The gnarled and gnarled cherry tree that a unlikely social media celebrity was cut down after the 2024 National Cherry Blossom Festival, along with more than 100 other trees, to make way for a major repair project to the crumbling sea wall that protects the tidal basin.
But thanks to the efforts of the National Arboretum, tiny Stumplings—actually clones of the tree—have taken root and may be able to return to their parental home in the coming years.
Earlier this year, employees collected several clippings and samples from Stumpy and transported them to the Arboretum in a protective cooler.
In a tree-recovery survival story, those cuttings have been replanted and nurtured to the point where the Arboretum now has five small, self-sustaining plants in its care. The process was intricate and delicate, with no guarantees it would work, said Piper Zettel, a horticulturist at the Arboretum.
“Rooting cuttings from woody plants is not a guaranteed success. Timing and the condition of the cutting material are probably the most critical elements, but many variables can have affected the results of this process,” Zettel said.
In horticultural terms, the original Stumpy is called the “mother plant.” However, the five young seedlings in the Arboretum’s care look more like Stumpy clones than children, as they are genetically identical to the original.
The rooted cuttings are still fragile and will require years of patient nurturing before they are ready for their public debut. The National Park Service, which oversees the tidal basin for the Jefferson Memorial, aims to complete the seawall restoration project in the spring of 2026, expecting a larger-than-normal influx of tourists that summer for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
However, there is no guarantee that Stumpy 2.0 will be ready to be replanted on that date.
“The new trees still have a long way to go, but we are doing everything we can to ensure that NPS gets strong, healthy and vigorous trees,” Zettel said. “The process takes a long time, because trees grow very slowly. We have to be patient.”
Stumpy became a social media star during the pandemic. His legacy has T-shirtsA calendar and a fan base. The news that 2024 would be Stumpy’s last spring caused people to leave flowers And bourbon and had one Reddit user threaten to chain themselves to the trunk to save the tree.
At the Tidal Basin, the long-awaited seawall restoration project kicked off Thursday with the official groundbreaking. Rather than wielding a gold shovel or cutting a ribbon with oversized scissors, National Park Service officials opted to paint one of the 90-foot-tall metal poles gold. Observers applauded as the golden metal cylinder — one of about 700 that will be used — was driven into the ground by a giant construction crane.
“This is long overdue,” said Catherine Townsend, president of the Trust for the National Mall, which uses private donations to support federally funded NPS projects. “It’s hard to see all the construction fencing and cranes, but it has to be done.”
The $133 million project to repair the seawall has been desperately needed for years. In addition to the standard deterioration, the actual water level has risen about 13 inches since the seawall was originally built in the 1940s. As a result, water from the Tidal Basin overtops the wall twice a day at high tide, blocking walkways and inundating the roots of the cherry blossom trees with destructive brackish seawater.
“It was a sad moment for us to have to cut down so many cherry blossom trees,” said Chuck Sams, director of the National Park Service. “Stumpy is a real symbol of resilience, just because he survived under those circumstances.”
While the Park Service aims to have everything completed by spring 2026, construction will inevitably impact the 2025 cherry blossom season.
“We just ask people to be patient because on the other side there will be improved facilities and an improved visitor experience,” Sams said.