It's the best one even for you party-goers, because people never miss the chance of having a sake-drinking and karaoke party under a tree in full bloom of cherry blossoms. Why don't you visit Cherry Blossom stock photos and images where the cherry blossoms are extremely beautiful, with a glass of sake in your hand?
How many noted sites for big tree of cherry blossoms have you visited?
Popular Hanami Spots is a good guide for you.
Washington's Spring also means Cherry Blossoms.
Your more academic inquiry will be satisfied by tracing Taxonomic Tree of Prunus Database.
Ikebana,Japanese flower arrangement, is another form of art for the Japanese to express themselves. Nature in Japan has been so dear to people that they never tempt to conquer it but try to make a harmonious balance with it. We can trace the attitude in a style of Ikebana trying to use natural materials in their natural form. Ikenobo is the oldest school of Ikebana dating back nearly 500 years. Its history and styles can be found in this homepage.
Sogetsu is another school of Ikebana being rather active in modern style of the art. The activities is quite worldwide as shown in this site. It also believes in thorough master of the traditional skills based on the same philosophy, a harmonious balance with nature, giving a firm foundation of much more free expression.
If you seek more freedom and internationality in your style of Ikebana, you can drop by Ikebana International where a wide variety of Ikebana schools openly displays each own philosophy under motto of "friendship through flowers" of this site.
All the Web sites above mentioned are essentially bilingual. If you, however, find any difficulty in Japanese language, please consult a Japanese-English Dictionary.
Any comments appreciated.