Blooming Now

May 29, 2023. We’re done! We’ve seen them all. It was a wonderful year for ornamental cherries. Our Cherry Scouts have made new finds and have posted beautiful photos. It’s all memories now until next February. In the meantime, we’ll post some digital art. Here is one from Shirley Willard, inspired by an ‘Ama-no-gawa’ tree.

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 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 2023 Second International Cherry Blossom Predition Competition closed on February 28. Vancouver’s location for the competition was again the ‘Akebono’ trees in Maple Grove Park, at the corner of SW Marine Drive and Yew Street. The peak blooming date for these trees in 2023 was determined to be April 7. You can find the photos of the blooming development at https://vcbf.ca/2023/04/09/yesterdays-news-2023-international-cherry-blossom-prediction-competition/.

Festival Favourites

Some of our festival favourite photo-op locations were 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:

1) do not climb the trees
2) do not break the branches
3) be respectful of the residents who live on the street
4) do not stop in the middle of the street
5) keep your visit to a max of 15mins (cause really, how long does it take to snap a few photos?)
6) stay on city property, do not go on private property
7) 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!

Festival Favourites in bloom

No cherries are in bloom now. You too can become a Cherry Scout and share photos with us next year – see Cherry Scouts – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca)

Festival Favourites no longer in bloom

These locations are a sample of the good photo-op locations that were reported on our forums at  VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums in 2023.