Hey Neighbor,

I need to talk about something and I can't hold it in anymore.

New Jersey in the spring? It's doing the most right now. And I am here for every single petal of it.

I know, I know. We get a bad rap. The turnpike jokes. The "what exit" thing. The eye rolls from people who've clearly never actually spent time here.

But then April hits. And suddenly this state turns into something out of a movie; the kind where the main character walks down a tree-lined street, sun on their face, coffee in hand, and everything just feels right.

That's us right now. That's New Jersey right now.

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The Cherry Blossoms You Didn't Know Were Here

Let's start with Branch Brook Park, because it deserves its moment.

Over 5,300 cherry blossom trees. Eighteen different varieties. The largest collection of Japanese flowering cherry blossoms in the entire United States. Yes, larger than Washington, D.C. (D.C. has about 3,800. We have 5,300. In Newark. Just sitting there being gorgeous and somehow still underrated.)

And this year is a big one; it's the 50th anniversary of the Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival. The whole park is peaking right now, and it is absolutely unreal. We're talking 360 acres of pink and white canopy designed by the Olmsted Brothers, the same firm behind Central Park. It started with a gift of 2,000 trees back in 1927, and today the collection is one of the most stunning displays of spring you'll find anywhere in the country.

If you haven't been, go. If you have been, go again. Bring your kids. Bring your coffee. Bring someone who says New Jersey isn't beautiful and watch their whole face change.

It's Not Just the Cherry Blossoms

This is the part of living here that nobody warns you about; how deeply you fall in love with it.

It's the 50,000 daffodils blooming in the glacial bowl at Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit right now, with the magnolias and cherry trees putting on a show right alongside them. It's the dogwoods starting to pop on every other street. It's walking around Mindowaskin Park and realizing the gardens are waking up, the pond looks like glass, and everything smells like the beginning of something good.

It's sitting outside at Track 5 in Cranford, people-watching at the clock plaza with your first iced coffee of the season. It's strolling through downtown Millburn and noticing the flowering trees lining Main Street. It's grabbing a table outside in Maplewood Village and realizing you're not in a rush to be anywhere else.

It's the windows-down drives through the Watchung Reservation. It's the way your whole neighborhood looks different when the trees fill back in; like the houses are getting tucked into something soft and green and alive.

It's all of it. Every bit of it.

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The Part That Sneaks Up on You

I remember my first spring here. I wasn't expecting it. I wasn't expecting to feel something driving down a random residential street because the flowering trees on both sides made a canopy over the road.

I wasn't expecting to feel proud of where I live just because of the way it looks in April.

But that's the thing about New Jersey. It sneaks up on you. You come for the location, the train, the space. And then you stay because it becomes yours. Your farmer's market. Your park. Your coffee order at your place. Your neighbors who wave. Your kids' friends around the corner. Your block that you love the most when the sun hits it at 6pm on a Tuesday.

That's not a house. That's home.

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Go Outside This Week

So this is my little love letter to this state in bloom. To the people who already live here and know exactly what I'm talking about. And to the people who are thinking about making the move; you're going to love it here. I promise.

Go outside this week. Take the long way home. Look up. It won't last forever (the blooms never do) but right now? Right now it's perfect.

And if you happen to snap a photo of something beautiful out there, send it my way. I will never get tired of seeing this place through your eyes.

Home isn't just a house. It's this. All of this.
And I'm glad we're here together.

Galina Kaplan
REALTOR® Associate | The Corcoran Group
917-291-8687
Calm guidance through every move.