Blooming Now

November 13, 2022. This ‘Akebono’ near English Bay still has most of its leaves, giving it a nice splash of colour. Shirley Willard captured a co-ordinated set of bicyclists, making this a very effective photo.

You can find blossom photos featured here starting in April at Blog – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca). And the festival favourite locations are still below, in the No Longer in Bloom section of this page.

You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.

You can find photos previously featured here this year in the Album at https://vcbf.ca/albums/blossoms-from-2022/. If you missed some of these postings, the newer ones have been saved in the Blog – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (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.

The First International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition ended on February 28, 2022. Vancouver contributed a location for the competition: the ‘Akebono’ trees in Maple Grove Park, at the corner of SW Marine Drive and Yew Street. Douglas Justice, Associate Director, Horticulture & Collections at UBC Botanical Garden, started photographing them beginning on March 10.

Douglas’s photos beginning on March 10 have been collected in the thread at Appreciation: – First International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.

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

Alas, the season is over. Though some ‘Shiro-fugen’ and ‘Kiku-zakura’ still have flowers, no Festival Favourites are good photo ops at this point.

Festival Favourites no longer in Bloom