WASHINGTON (AP) — Stumpy lives on!

The stunted and gnarled cherry tree, which became an unexpected 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 on the crumbling seawall that protects the tidal basin.

But thanks to the efforts of the National Arboretum, small stumps – actually clones of the tree – have taken root and could be returned to their parent’s home in the next few years.

Earlier this year, workers collected numerous cuttings and samples from Stumpy and transported them to the arboretum in a cooler.

In a tree-like story of survival, those cuttings were replanted and nurtured so that the arboretum now has five small, self-sustaining plants under its care. The process was complicated and delicate, and there was no guarantee it would actually work, said Piper Zettel, a gardener at the arboretum.

The National Arboretum has successfully planted cuttings of Stumpy, the cherry blossom tree, and has grown several small plants, as seen Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Washington. In about two years, some of these seedlings will be replanted in the Tidal Basin once the remodeling work that led to the tree’s removal is completed there. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/John McDonnell

“Rooting cuttings from woody plants is not a guaranteed success. The timing and condition of the cutting are probably the most crucial factors, but many variables could have influenced the outcome of this process,” said Zettel.

In horticultural parlance, the original Stumpy is referred to as the “mother plant.” However, the five young seedlings under the arboretum’s care are clones of Stumpy rather than his children, as they are genetically identical to the original.

The rooted cuttings are still delicate and will need years of patient care before they are ready for public display. The National Park Service, which oversees the Tidal Basin in front of the Jefferson Memorial, plans to complete the seawall repair project in spring 2026 – and is expecting a larger-than-usual influx of tourists this summer for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

However, there is no guarantee that Stumpy 2.0 will be ready for transplanting by this date.

“The new trees still have a long way to go, but we are doing everything we can to make sure the NPS gets strong, healthy, 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 spawned T-shirts, a calendar and a fan base. The news that 2024 would be Stumpy’s last spring prompted people to go Flowers And bourbon and one Reddit user threatened to chain himself to the trunk to save the tree.

At the Tidal Basin, the long-overdue seawall repair project officially began Thursday with construction officially beginning. Instead of using a gold shovel or cutting a ribbon with oversized scissors, National Park Service officials opted to paint one of the 90-foot-tall metal pilings gold. Observers applauded as the gold metal cylinder – one of about 700 that will be used – was placed in the ground by a giant construction crane.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Catherine Townsend, president of the Trust for the National Mall, which supports publicly funded NPS projects with private donations. “It’s hard to see all these construction fences and cranes, but it has to happen.”

The $133 million project to repair the levee has been urgently needed for years. In addition to normal deterioration, the actual water level has risen about 13 inches since the levee was built in the 1940s. As a result, the waters of the Tidal Basin overflowed the levee twice a day during high tide, blocking pedestrian walkways and drenching the roots of cherry blossom trees with destructive brackish water.

“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 true symbol of resilience simply because he survived under these conditions.”

While the Park Service aims to have everything completed by spring 2026, construction will inevitably impact the 2025 cherry blossom season next spring.

“We just ask people to be patient because on the other side there will be improved facilities and an improved visitor experience,” Sams said.

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