The National Arboretum took pieces of Stumpy before he was removed in order to grow clones. News4’s Dominique Moody explains the process.
We're officially in cherry blossom season in Washington, D.C., with the famous trees by the Tidal Basin already in stage one of their bloom cycle and the whole city thinking pink.
But this year, visitors looking to gawk at the delicate flowers might feel like something is missing near the Jefferson Memorial — and not just the part of the sidewalk made inaccessible during construction.
D.C.'s favorite little cherry tree is no longer with us. Rest in peace, Stumpy.
If the name “Stumpy” doesn’t ring a bell, let us have the delight of introducing you to D.C.’s favorite — and most iconic — cherry tree of legend.
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Who is Stumpy?
The saga of Stumpy began way back in 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic. A Reddit user found a visibly different little tree along the Tidal Basin between the Ohio Drive Bridge and the Jefferson Memorial. That user posted a photo of the tree to the r/washingtondc subreddit alongside a joke about the tree being "as dead as my love life."
Affection for the crooked, dead-looking tree poured in right away, but really took off after the pandemic began and we all began to feel … well, like Stumpy.
When Stumpy bloomed during 2020’s cherry blossom season, the tree went from a funny meme to a symbol of hope for many people in and around the District.
The symbolism only increased when Stumpy's stubborn blooms appeared again the next spring, and the next, right as Americans crawled out of quarantine and back into something resembling normal life.
Okay, so where is Stumpy now?
Last year, disaster struck. The very thing that gave Stumpy his notorious half-dead form and rocketed him to fame also caused his downfall: the ever-increasing floods along the sinking Tidal Basin.
High tides have regularly caused water to overflow the seawall for decades, inundating the trees and their root systems with brackish water — which is really bad for the plants.
It’s the reason Stumpy was one of the very few trees left in that area when the National Park Service made a fateful announcement.
In 2024, the NPS announced that 159 cherry trees on the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park would be cut down to make way for seawall repairs — including Stumpy.
D.C. did not take the news well.
The District mourned. Stumpy received cards and bottles of liquor. Literal diplomats paid their respects.
But death is inevitable, no matter how beloved you are. And so, Stumpy was quietly removed from the Tidal Basin last May.
That's it? Stumpy is gone forever?
Not quite!
The original Stumpy tree has been removed — "debloomed," as the NPS very diplomatically put it during this year's cherry blossom season press conference.
But the symbol of hope brings hope to all of us still.
Some of that is in the metaphorical sense. Stumpy got a shoutout from the NPS during that press conference and became a traffic-stopping mascot for the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile and 5K.
However, Stumpy also literally lives on, in a sense, through his clones.
The U.S. National Arboretum took clippings from the original Stumpy tree before it was removed, and propagated them into new trees.
Four of those baby trees are alive and well, the NPS told News4.
Stumpy’s descendants/clones are expected to be planted in the ground near the Tidal Basin by next spring, at which point the District will be able to revel in multiple Sons (and Daughters) of Stumpy once again.
Until then, we can rejoice in Stumpy's memory with Stumpy’s Petals and Paddles on March 20, the District's first-ever pedal boat race at the Tidal Basin.
And there’s always that 10 Mile mascot to hold us over.
