In the present day, ornamental cherry blossom trees are distributed and cultivated worldwide. While flowering cherry trees were historically present in Europe, North America, and China,Toshio Katsuki (2015). Sakura, p. 122. Iwanami Shoten. the practice of cultivating ornamental cherry trees was centered in Japan,Toshio Katsuki (2018). Sakura no Kagaku (Science of Cherry Blossoms), pp. 160–161. SB Creative. and many of the cultivars planted worldwide, such as that of Prunus × yedoensis,Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan .Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins . have been developed from Japanese hybrids.

The global distribution of ornamental cherry trees, along with flower viewing festivals or hanami, largely started in the early 20th century, often as gifts from Japan. However, some regions have their own native species of flowering cherry trees, a notable variety of which is Prunus cerasoides.

Australia

During World War II, a prisoner of war (POW) camp near the town of Cowra in New South Wales, Australia, was the site of one of the largest prison escapes of the war, on 5 August 1944. During the Cowra breakout and the subsequent rounding up of POWs, four Australian soldiers and 231 Japanese soldiers died and 108 prisoners were wounded. The Japanese War Cemetery holding the dead from the breakout was tended after the war by members of the Cowra RSL and ceded to Japan in 1963. In 1971 the Cowra Tourism Development decided to celebrate this link to Japan and proposed a Japanese garden for the town. The Japanese government agreed to support this development as a sign of thanks for the respectful treatment of their war dead; the development also received funding from the Australian government and private entities.Tam, Tracy, "Australian town commemorates 1944 POW camp breakout", The Japan Times, (Kyodo News), 19 August 2014

The garden was designed by Ken Nakajima (1914–2000), a world-renowned designer of Japanese gardens at the time. The first stage was opened in 1979, and the second stage in 1986. The gardens were designed in the style of the Edo period and are a kaiyū-shiki or strolling garden. They are designed to show all of the landscape types of Japan. At five hectares (12 acres), the Cowra Japanese Garden is the largest Japanese garden in the Southern Hemisphere. An annual cherry blossom festival during September is now a major event in Cowra's tourism calendar.

Brazil

With the Japanese diaspora to Brazil, many immigrants brought seedlings of cherry trees. In São Paulo State, home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan, it is common to find them in Japan-related facilities and in home gardens, usually the cultivars Prunus serrulata 'Yukiwari' and Prunus serrulata var. lannesiana 'Himalaya'. Some cities, such as Garça and Campos do Jordão, have annual festivals to celebrate the blooming of the trees and Japanese culture. In Parana State (in southern Brazil), cities also received many of these immigrants, who planted trees in Apucarana, Maringá, and Cascavel, and especially in the capital city of Curitiba.

In the Curitiba, the first seedlings were brought by Japanese immigrants in the first half of the 20th century, and large numbers were planted in the 1990s with the opening of the Botanical Garden of Curitiba. Nowadays, seedlings are produced locally and used in afforestation of streets and squares. In Praça do Japão (Japan Square) there are more than 30 cherry trees that were sent by the Empire of Japan to Curitiba.

Canada

Vancouver, British Columbia, is famous for its thousands of cherry trees (estimated 50,000) lining many streets and in many parks, including Queen Elizabeth Park and Stanley Park. Vancouver holds the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival every year.

High Park in Toronto, Ontario, features many Somei-Yoshino cherry trees that were given to Toronto by Japan in 1959. Through the Sakura Project, the Japanese Consulate donated a further 34 cherry trees to High Park in 2001, plus cherry trees to various other locations like Exhibition Place, McMaster University, York University (near Calumet College and on Ottawa Road near McLaughlin College) and the University of Toronto's main campus (next to Robarts Library) and Scarborough campus. Niagara Falls has many trees near the falls themselves. Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington and Hamilton was also the recipient of several Somei-Yoshino cherry trees donated as part of the Sakura Project. The trees are located in the Arboretum and the Rock Garden and were planted to celebrate the continual strengthening of friendship between Japan and Canada. Peak bloom time at the Royal Botanical Gardens is normally around the last week of April or the first week of May.

China

Cherry trees grow naturally in the middle northern and southern parts of China, where they are known as yinghua () in Chinese.

Some of the most famous cherry blossom parks in China reflect Japan's brief occupation of parts of China during the first half of the 20th century or donations from Japan. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, twenty-eight cherry blossom trees were planted at Wuhan University by Japanese troops. After the war it was decided that the trees would be preserved despite their historical implications. In 1972, as China–Japan relations normalized, about 800 trees were donated to Wuhan University. Other donations added to their numbers in the following years. Currently, Wuhan University has about one thousand cherry blossom trees of different kinds. 80% of these cherry trees are direct descendants of trees planted by the Japanese. In 2020, when cherry blossom viewing became impossible due to the spread of COVID-19, updates on the flowering of cherry trees at Wuhan University were posted on the Web and viewed a total of 750 million times.Nobuhiko Tanaka (2021) Why do Chinese people come to view cherry blossoms? Chinese people rediscovered cherry blossoms through Japan. NEC. March 24, 2021.Why Japanese-style cherry blossom viewing and cherry blossom viewing spots are on the rise in China. Diamond online. March 24, 2021

Gifts of cherry blossoms trees have also signified friendship between China and Japan. In 1973, the year following the Japan–China Joint Communiqué, Japan sent cherry trees to China as a symbol of friendship, and they were planted in Yuyuantan Park in Beijing. After that, further trees were propagated and planted, and the park became famous for cherry blossoms.Wuhan City delegation to learns about cherry blossom management in Hirosaki Park. The Mutsu Shimpo. April 27, 2018.China Now (24). Nishinippon Shimbun. April 17, 2017.

In 1997, the Japanese Michinoku Bank and arborist Kazio Saito planned to open a cherry blossom park in Wuhan City for the sake of the friendship between the two countries, and the Japanese city of Hirosaki, home to Hirosaki Park famous for its cherry blossoms, began to advise Wuhan City on the planting and cultivation of cherry trees. In 2016 Wuhan City and Hirosaki City signed a friendship agreement. East Lake Cherry Blossom Park opened in 2001, and 2.5 million people came to see the blossoms in 2018. There are sixty kinds of cherry trees, including Yoshino cherry and weeping cherry.China’s East Lake Cherry Blossom Garden sweat and tears of the unsung hero from Aomori. From Aomori in Japan-Local News & Article Site. May 1, 2019.Cherry Blossom Spots. p.19.

International Cherry Blossom Week in Wuxi began in the 1980s, when Keishiro Sakamoto and Kiyomi Hasegawa, Japanese citizens, planted 1,500 cherry trees in the China-Japan Friendship Cherry Blossom Forest. As of 2019, the Friendship Cherry Blossom Forest attracts 500,000 viewers each year, and is home to 100 kinds of cherry trees.Wuxi International Cherry Blossoms Week. Cherry blossoms promote friendship between China and Japan. Agence France-Presse. March 27, 2019

At the beginning of the 21st century, the popularity of cherry blossoms in China rapidly increased due to an increase in the number of visitors to Japan and the spread of SNS, and many cherry blossom parks have opened throughout China. According to statistics from 2019, the number of cherry blossom-related tourists reached 340 million and the amount spent exceeded 60 billion yuan.

Some notable cherry blossom sites in China include:

Longwangtang Cherry Blossom Park in Lushun, Dalian, Liaoning East Lake Cherry Blossom Park near Wuhan University, in Donghu District, Wuhan, Hubei Wuhan University, in Donghu District, Wuhan, Hubei Nanshan Botanical Garden in Nan'an District, Chongqing Pingba Cherry Blossom Park in Guizhou Yuantouzhu in Wuxi

Denmark

In Denmark, cherry blossoms are chiefly ornamental flowering cherries grown in parks, gardens, and urban landscapes rather than native Danish trees; many are Japanese flowering cherries, including cultivars of Prunus serrulata, a temperate East Asian species that is widely cultivated outside its native range.

In Denmark, cherry blossoms are especially associated with spring displays in Copenhagen, most notably in Langelinie Park and Bispebjerg cemetery, where 200 cherry trees form the basis of the annual Copenhagen Sakura Festival. According to the Embassy of Japan in Denmark, the trees were donated in 2005 by Seiichi Takaki, president of Andersen Bakery, on the occasion of the bicentenary of Hans Christian Andersen's birth. Their successful cultivation in Denmark is supported by the country’s cool spring climate, while horticultural guidance for Prunus serrulata recommends full sun and moist but well-drained, moderately fertile soil. France

Parc de Sceaux, located in a suburb of Paris, has two orchards of cherry trees, one for white cherry blossoms (Prunus avium) and one for pink cherry blossoms (Prunus serrulata). Orchard detail on interactive map The orchards combined make up 264 trees, which attract many visitors when they bloom in early April. Additional plantings are present in the capital along the Seine River, near Notre-Dame de Paris, and in the Bastille area.

Germany Cherry blossoms are a major tourist attraction in Germany's Altes Land orchard region. The largest Hanami in Germany, organized by the German-Japanese society, with Japanese-style fireworks, takes place in Hamburg every spring.

In 1990, Japan donated cherry blossoms to be planted along prior sections of the Berlin Wall, to express appreciation for the German reunification. The gift was supported by donations from the Japanese people allowing over 9,000 trees to be planted. The first trees were planted in November of that year near the Glienicke Bridge.

The Cherry Blossom festival in the Bonn Altstadt () is also very famous.

Starting in 2015, Hamburg was allowed to bestow the title of "Cherry Blossom Queen" by the Japan Cherry Blossom Association, one of only three cities worldwide to receive this privilege. The first Cherry Blossom Queen of Hamburg was crowned by the Cherry Blossom Queen of Japan on 23 May 2015.

India

In India, cherry blossoms are a notable attraction in Himalayan states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and northern districts of West Bengal, namely Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling, as well as Nagaland, Manipur and the tropical highlands of Garo Hills and Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, where Prunus cerasoides is native. These states are notable for Prunus cerasoides trees, called wild cherry blossom trees, which cover the Himalayan foothills and bloom twice a year during the spring and autumn months. They can also be seen in various British-era botanical gardens, especially in the Nilgiri Hills in the Western Ghats in southern India.Prunus cerasoides by Divya Chandran, 2019 https://thepapyrus.in/index.php/sakura-magic-in-the-nilgiris-wild-cherry-blossom-pollachi-papyrus/ The flowers bloom every six months, between January and late March, and between late September and November.