Jasmine and sakura were planted in Yasnaya Polyana for Leo Tolstoy's birthday

On September 9, 2019, on the day of the 191st anniversary of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, on the territory of the memorial greenhouse in Yasnaya Polyana, bushes of coronated chubushnik, another name of which is jasmine garden, were planted.

The landing took place as part of the campaign "Let's save Yasnaya Polyana for future generations." It was attended by museum Director Ekaterina Tolstaya, State Duma deputy Natalia Pilus, Tula Regional Duma deputy Galina Alyoshina, and museum staff.

12 chubushnik bushes were presented to the museum by a private collector of garden plants, Angelina Konyukhova. The bushes are represented by two varieties – Lemoine's chubushnik, known since the middle of the 19th century, and Professor N. K. Vekhov's chubushnik, selected in 1930-40.

In 1811, Leo Tolstoy's mother Maria Nikolaevna wrote about the cultivation of chubushnik, or as it was then called "jasmine of the air", in the "Inventory of the garden" (description of plants of Yasnaya Polyana). Chubushnik grew up on the estate in the last years of the writer's life, as recalled by Tolstoy's gardener Hans Soans.

And on September 14, a new tree appeared – the small-sawed cherry, which is also called the Japanese sakura. It was planted by Ekaterina Tolstaya and Yuri Filipenko, director of the Pobeda Museum and Memorial Complex (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk).

A four-year-old cherry seedling, which in Japan is considered one of the varieties of sakura, was brought to Yasnaya Polyana from Sakhalin Island. This cherry variety grows well in the middle zone, is frost-resistant and, as expected by the museum staff, will bloom in the first year after planting. Sakura blooms for up to five days in early or mid-May. In the future, cherries will be able to bear fruit.

Sakura will grow next to young Lyubskaya cherries (planted in 2017), in the same place where Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy planted cherry trees.