Yesterday’s news – 2023 International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition

International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition

The 2023 Second International Cherry Blossom Predition Competition closed on February 28. Vancouver’s location for the competition is again the ‘Akebono’ trees in Maple Grove Park, at the corner of SW Marine Drive and Yew Street. The overall consensus for the blooming date for these trees in 2023 is April 5. On March 20, the Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition’s Jonathan L. Auerbach spoke with CBC Radio’s Gloria Macarenko about trying to figure out when the Instagram-worthy blossoms will appear. Here is the 6-minute interview: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46-on-the-coast/clip/15973390-what-day-think-cherry-blossoms-bloom-year.

Douglas Justice, Associate Director, Horticulture & Collections at UBC Botanical Garden, and Wendy Cutler, VCBF Cherry Scout Co-ordinator, have begun following the blooming progress of these trees; Douglas will report the “official” peak bloom date for this location for this year.

‘Akebono’ cherries in Maple Grove Park, buds not more than starting to open on March 16. Photos by Wendy Cutler.

‘Akebono’ cherries in Maple Grove Park, pink buds are evident on March 21. Photos on this date by Wendy Cutler.

One of the three large trees at Maple Grove Park. There is a fourth younger tree in this group; the bloom date of the flowers on that tree are not being considered for the competition.

‘Akebono’ cherries in Maple Grove Park, pink buds are evident on March 21.

Two days later, March 23, cooler than 10C degrees and partly rainy. Still, there is some reddening of the overall tree colour with advancing bud development.

March 23 – Some buds have started to swell, but others not yet. Pedicels (flower stems) are starting to be visible, are less than 1cm.

March 23 – These are the only open flowers on any of the trees.

Another two days have elapsed, but not much development has occurred. These are still the only open flowers. The weather was better, but a little below 10C degrees.

March 23, it’s hard to judge the the overall colour compared to what it was when the weather was so dreary two days ago.

March 23, more of the pedicels were approaching 1 cm.

Here are photos from Douglas Justice taken on March 27. I think the first one features the same two flower clusters as just above. It was below 10C degrees in the intervening days, and little progress has been made.

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Douglas Justice’s March 29 photos show a little more blooming progression, and another area with some open flowers. These two days had temperatures a few degrees above 10C.

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Pedicels in this photo have definitely elongated, are 1-2 cm, buds are a lighter pink shade.

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April 1 – there are enough open flowers to offer nice photos. But, we’re not even at 25% open. The photos are by Wendy Cutler.

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April 4 – the advancement in blooming is noticeable now in Douglas Justice’s photos compared with three days ago. It’s been cold (below 10C degrees) but progress is now inexorable.

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April 5 – not much sun today, wind bringing in the predicted rain for the next few days.

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April 7 – surely far more than half these flowers are open. Our spec for “peak bloom” is 70% open. Douglas Justice has now called it – peak bloom on April 7. Wendy Cutler got to photograph them.