Melissa Bailey Photo
Peter Piscatelli took a peek on Friday: Not quite there. So he returned Monday to see Wooster Square’s iconic canopy of cherry blossoms open in full glory.
Piscatelli (pictured), of West Haven, was one of many blossom-peepers who stood on Hughes Place Monday evening gazing up in delight.
“This street is like an umbrella of flowers,” he remarked.
The 84-year-old was making an annual trip to the small side-street off of Wooster Square Park, where the neighborhood’s famous blossoms converge most densely and spectacularly.
He brought his friend Edith DeStefano (pictured above, no relation to the mayor). Piscatelli grew up on Congress Avenue. DeStefano grew up in the Philippines, where she said there are no such trees.
Piscatelli has learned to monitor the trees. That’s because the sight is fleeting: The blossoms typically last only five to 10 days before falling in a white blizzard onto the ground below.
Erratic weather has made it hard to predict just when the blossoms will “pop.” Last year they opened very early, in March, two weeks before the annual Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival. This year they reached their peak one week after the festival.