Macon, Ga., boasts some 350,000 cherry trees. But if you want to plan on seeing them in bloom, you need to look earlier in your calendar, every year.

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The Yoshino, which is the star of the Macon-Bibb County’s annual signature festival, struggles in the hot Southern climate and has become susceptible to disease. Plus, the 20-year life expectancy is about up for many trees already in decline around town. 

Macon Mayor Lester Miller is adamant: “Absolutely no chance I’m going to cancel the Cherry Blossom Festival. We can’t afford another year without Cherry Blossom.”

Normally when you think of cherry blossoms, you think of Washington D.C. or Japan. But unbeknownst to a lot of tourists, Macon, Georgia is the Cherry...