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Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday’s news – rare single whites – ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ and ‘Ojochin’

April 25, 2023. Here are two rare large single blossoms, both sometimes carrying some extra petals. ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ has been featured here before, but this photo is especially nice, in that you can see the darker pink buds, still a lot of pink in the flowers, and the very occasional extra petaloid on one of the flowers. Well, and some dead leaves, but the beauty of the flowers is winning out.

20230424_Mikuruma_BrockNanaimo_Eng_7898
20230424_Mikuruma-gaeshi_BrockNanaimo_Eng_7898

The ‘Ojochin’ below is even more rare locally, but it may make a come-back since this cultivar was included in the VCBF plant sale a few years ago, clones from this tree at the Japanese War Memorial in Stanley Park. When flowers open, they can be closer to the colour of the ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ above and also have some extra petals, so can be hard to distinguish from that. These flowers are even larger than on ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’. The flower buds generally hang down to match the translation of their name – “large paper lantern”.

20230425 JWarMem Ojochin Willard IMG_3230
20230425 JWarMem Ojochin Willard IMG_3230
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Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday’s news – double blossom ‘Takasago’ and ‘Shirotae’

April 21, 2023. Double blossoms today! Still not the ubiquitous late-season ‘Kanzan’, which are biding their time. It’s hard to beat the beauty of these dark purplish-red ‘Takasago’ buds set against the riot of colour in the double pinky-white blossoms. The densely packed flower clusters suffer from an air circulation problem in our rainy climate, making the trees not all that healthy.

20230421_Takasago_TalismanDinmont_Eng_7857
20230421_Takasago_TalismanDinmont_Eng_7857

But flowers don’t need all that colour to be stunning. Much more common around here are ‘Shirotae’, referring to a kind of white cloth in Japanese. Buds become white before they open. The green leaves often emerge with the flowers. These blossoms are fragrant, smelling of almonds. These are often planted in groups, making the fragrance all the more noticeable.

20230421 DougallPk Shirotae Willard IMG_2922
20230421 DougallPk Shirotae Willard IMG_2922
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Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday’s news – single pink blossoms

April 20, 2023. Today we’ll do rare single pink blossoms.

These Schmitt cherry flowers are so small, on trees so tall, that they’re usually missed being noticed at all. This photo is from six days ago at VanDusen Botanical Garden, a colder Vancouver neighbourhood, so these flowers were still fresh and pink. By now, they are probably white and even easier to miss seeing.

20230414_Schmitt_VanDusenWinterStroll_Eng_7718
20230414_Schmitt_VanDusenWinterStroll_Eng_7718

We only know two locations for ‘Choshu-hizakura’, beautiful trees with petals often edged in a darker pink, accompanied by bronze leaves.

20230419_Choshu-hizakura_OliverMcdonald_Eng_7773
20230419_Choshu-hizakura_OliverMcdonald_Eng_7773

‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ flowers look similar to the ‘Choshu-hizakura’ above, but are not as intensely coloured, and the trees are more sparsely branched and not nearly as hefty or healthy. Both cultivars have occasional extra petals. This is the first cultivar this season on which we have seen green leaves with pink flowers.

Mikuruma-gaeshi_PendrellChilco_Cutler_20230416_181801
Mikuruma-gaeshi_PendrellChilco_Cutler_20230416_181801
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Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday’s news – rare single-white blossoms

April 17, 2023. Our popular widely planted ‘Akebono’ trees are starting to fade, and it’s not quite time yet for the even more widely-planted ‘Kanzan’ trees, so it’s time for us to notice some of the rare gems. Here are yet more single-whites, flowers with just five petals.

The flowers on the Oshima-zakura cherry look ever-so-much like those of ‘Umineko’ and ‘Snow Goose’ (featured at Yesterday’s news – Single whites: ‘Somei-yoshino’, ‘Akebono’ and ‘Umineko’/’Snow Goose’ – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca), of which it is one of the parents. But they are fragrant, and the tree shape is wide-spreading instead of upright.

OshimaCherry_KitsBeach-on-Arbutus_Cutler_20230415_143624
OshimaCherry_KitsBeach-on-Arbutus_Cutler_20230415_143624

Notice how smooth the petal edges are on the Oshima-zakura above. Now check out the jagged petal edges on this ‘Washi-no-o’. It’s name means “eagle’s tail”. These flowers are also fragrant.

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20230412_Washi-no-o_NootkaE25_Eng_7661

‘Tai-haku’, the “great white cherry”, are trees with substantial broad-spreading limbs when they are allowed the space to grow to their potential. The flowers are themselves of great size (for a cherry) – they can be up to 6 cm across, and the petals are quite rounded, making the flowers look even larger, particularly as they are bracketed by shiny bronze leaves (the leaves here have just emerged; check back in a week or so for a better photo).

20230423 SeaforthPeacePark Tai-haku Willard IMG_3016 2
20230423 SeaforthPeacePark Tai-haku Willard IMG_3016 2
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Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday’s news – pink cascades

April 12, 2023. Pink blossoms today, on weeping cherry trees. “Shidare” (drooping) in Japanese cherry blossom names is used to describe the tree form called “weeping” in English.

So, ‘Beni-shidare’ can be described as the Red Cascade, which is much more poetic than Red Weepings and more in line with how Taki-zakura was named, the Waterfall Cherry of Miharu that is a 1,000 year-old ‘Beni-shidare.’ Certainly none of Miharu’s visitors would think of weeping.

Here are ‘Beni-shidare’ flowers, single blossoms (five petals).

20230411_BeniShidare_E35Culloden_Eng_7641
20230411_BeniShidare_E35Culloden_Eng_7641

Where this large tree is located on East Culloden Street in Vancouver, right next to it, and of similar size, is a ‘Yae-beni-shidare’, with double pink flowers – “yae” refers to the double flowers.

20230411_YaeBShidare_E35Culloden_Eng_7642
20230411_Yae-beni-shidare_E35Culloden_Eng_7642
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Photos Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday’s news – Single whites: ‘Somei-yoshino’, ‘Akebono’ and ‘Umineko’/’Snow Goose’

April 11, 2023. More single white blossoms. Here are two cultivars that are often confused, and another that could cause some confusion were it more common. ‘Somei-yoshino’ is not so common in Vancouver, but it’s the most popular cherry in Japan and is the one planted at the tidal basin in Washington, DC and at the Quad at the University of Washington in Seattle. The single white flowers are not more than 3 cm across and hang on sparsely hairy stems.

20230409_Somei-yoshino_VDGtLawn_Eng_7627
20230409_Somei-yoshino_VDGtLawn_Eng_7627

Very popular in Vancouver are ‘Akebono’, with several block-long plantings forming an arch over the street. This tree is in the same species as ‘Somei-yoshino’ (Yedoensis). The flowers are slightly larger than ‘Somei-yoshino’, are more pink at peak bloom, and their stems are less hairy. Some flowers exhibit an extra small petal in the centre, which is never the case for the other two cultivars featured here.

20230329 PendrellWGilford Akebono Willard IMG_1448
20230329 PendrellWGilford Akebono Willard IMG_1448

‘Umineko’ or ‘Snow Goose’ are separately named cultivars with the same parents. We’re pretty sure no-one can tell them apart. These trees start upright; the branches eventually spread out but curve back inward at the tips. The flowers are smaller than the cherries shown above, are pure white with petals so round that they overlap to form large stars. Starting now, leaves will appear with the flowers.

20230411 Robson Chilco Umineko Willard IMG_2370
20230411 Robson Chilco Umineko Willard IMG_2370
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Yesterday’s news – ‘Afterglow’

April 9, 2023. It was several years before our Cherry Scouts found ‘Afterglow’ trees. They were all listed as ‘Akebono’, and indeed they are a different cultivar of the same Prunus yedoensis species, and they bloom at roughly the same time. They have a similar habit (shape), but the flowers are smaller and much more pink. The petals are round enough to overlap. Thanks to Anne Eng for this photo.

20230407_Afterglow_ElginE27_Eng_7604
20230407_Afterglow_ElginE27_Eng_7604
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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.

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‘Akebono’ cherries in Maple Grove Park, buds not more than starting to open on March 16. Photos by Wendy Cutler.
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‘Akebono’ cherries in Maple Grove Park, pink buds are evident on March 21. Photos on this date by Wendy Cutler.
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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.
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‘Akebono’ cherries in Maple Grove Park, pink buds are evident on March 21.
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230323_184747
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.
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March 23 – Some buds have started to swell, but others not yet. Pedicels (flower stems) are starting to be visible, are less than 1cm.
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March 23 – These are the only open flowers on any of the trees.
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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.
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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.
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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.

Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230327_IMG_3939
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230327_IMG_3939
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230327_IMG_3940
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230327_IMG_3940
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230327_IMG_3936
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230327_IMG_3936

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.

Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230329_IMG_3941
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230329_IMG_3941

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

Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230329_IMG_3942
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230329_IMG_3942

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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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230401_170513
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230401_170704
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230401_165609
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230401_170748

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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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230404_IMG_3999
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230404_IMG_3995
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230404_IMG_3992

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

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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230405_IMG_4002
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230405_IMG_4003
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230405_IMG_4004
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_DouglasJustice_20230405_IMG_4005

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.

Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185307
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185307

A sunny moment on the trees complete changes the colour in photos. This is the same photoshoot as the previous photo.

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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185847
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Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185335
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185455
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185455
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185742
Akebono_MapleGrovePark_Cutler_20230407_185742

You can find last year’s photos at https://vcbf.ca/2022-cherry-blossom-prediction-competition/.

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Yesterday’s news – ‘Pandora’

April 6, 2023. We have not yet featured ‘Pandora’, an early season bloomer with white flowers. The petals on these are almost twice as long as they are wide, so they do not overlap. That is a distinctive feature on these goblet-shaped trees. Thanks to Anne Eng for this photo.

20230407_Pandora_E27Quebec_Eng_7581
20230407_Pandora_E27Quebec_Eng_7581


You can find blossom photos featured here at Blog – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca).

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Yesterday’s news – pendulous (weeping) trees, pink and white

April 3, 2023. In the previous posting, we have featured single white blossoms that can be seen around town now, or coming soon. You can find the most recent posting at Yesterday’s news – single white flowers – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca). Today we feature two similar weeping trees, one a white one not shown yesterday, and the other the same species but a pink cultivar that we have featured here before. Thanks to Shirley Willard for both photos.

Both these trees with a pendulous (weeping) shape have the botanical name Prunus itosakura Pendula Group. This does not seem to be a registered cultivar, so we are calling it ito-zakura, meaning thread cherry, as it is known in Japan. It is not all that common in the wild, but it is available from landscaping suppliers in white or light pink.

20230331 MedusaWOceanview Ito-zakura Willard IMG_1548
20230331 MedusaWOceanview Ito-zakura Willard IMG_1548

Much more widely planted is the Prunus itosakura cultivar ‘Beni-shidare’, also called ‘Pendula Rosea’, with its showy deep-pink flowers.

20230401 SylvanDrECherylAnnParRd Beni-shidare Willard IMG_1625
20230401 SylvanDrECherylAnnParRd Beni-shidare Willard IMG_1625