Blooming Now

Blooming Now — Read the latest updates on cherry blossoms, including blooming dates, prime locations, and tips for capturing stunning photos. Follow our cherry scouts, as we share firsthand insights and ensures you never miss a moment of the blossoms’ beauty. Whether you’re planning a visit or simply admiring from afar, this page is your go-to resource for all things cherry blossoms.

Latest Updates

May 9, 2026 Have we seen peak bloom on all our ornamental cherries? Yes, we have. Is it all over? No, it isn’t. We have two late bloomers that are reluctant to quit. ‘Shiro-fugen’ flowers are all pink now, except that a few new flowers keep opening, and they’re white. And some of the pink flowers will get some new white petals. And the pistils in the centre of a few of the flowers will expand to become leafy-looking. These developments will continue for some of the flowers all month, while many of the flowers will be dropping or drying on the tree.

‘Kiku-zakura’, an upright tree with chrysanthemum flowers (the Japanese word “kiku” means chrysanthemum) are now showing second-story flowers – the original pinky-white petals have turned pink, and what were deep pink inserts in the flower centres have now opened with white petals, and with stamens and pistils, surrounded by their own calyx and sepals. These flowers won’t be looking fresh much longer.

You can find blossom photos with descriptions that were featured here at Blog – Yesterday’s news and more – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca).

Scouts have shared their finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums. You can search for cultivar locations on the festival map at Neighbourhood Maps (vcbf.ca).

You can find the new 2014 enlarged edition of the indispensable guide to Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver, written by Douglas Justice, Associate Director & Curator of Collections at UBC Botanical Garden. Purchase the full eBook version here on our Shop.

---

International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition

The VCBF once again has offered up our ‘Akebono’ trees at Maple Grove Park, for the fifth year of the International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition. More information about the challenge can be found at https://competition.statistics.gmu.edu/. The contestants needed to predict the blooming dates for the participating locations. As well, they competed against models created by artificial intelligence like ChatGPT. The contestants submitted their predictions by the end of February. Douglas Justice called the peak bloom for March 27, 2026.

You can see photos of the blooming progression from 2026 at Yesterday’s news – 2026 International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.

---

Festival Favourites

Some of our festival favourite photo-op locations will be shown here during the bloom season with current year photos and the approximate blooming dates. Red markers on our festival map show all our favourite locations. ​​​​When we talk about Festival Favourites, we mean you will be happy you made the trip to see them to photograph them. When you’re there, remember the neighbours:

• do not climb the trees
• do not break the branches
• be respectful of the residents who live on the street
• do not stop in the middle of the street
• keep your visit to a max of 15mins (cause really, how long does it take to snap a few photos?)
• stay on city property, do not go on private property
• try to stay off the grass, especially if you are wearing heels.

Mostly – be respectful to the environment and the residents. Remember that it is the residents who are responsible for caring for those trees.

Learn How to Take Cherry Blossom Photos with your phone thanks to Cakewalk Media for the tips!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/23AKPJ_-Ps4

Festival Favourites in Bloom

Festival Favourites no longer in bloom

These favourites were featured above when they were in bloom.