Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival
April 15, 2022. Mid-season bloomers like ‘Takasago’ are hanging on with our cooler April weather. The flowers are all starting to look more like the red-centred ones in the first photo here. ‘Ama-no-gawa’ opened early this year but still look beautiful.
You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
There was so much interest in the April 19 online haiku workshop that it is being run again the next day, and as of right now, there is still room. Check out the details at 2022 Haiku Online Workshop – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca)
I wasn’t aware of this haiku until I saw it at Sakura Days Japan Fair, after I had already started the “Yesterday’s news” series.
April 14, 2022. Here are yellow and pink. ‘Ukon’ flowers open with a definitely yellow tinge, but they fade to a pale cream as they age, maybe with stripes of green and red. ‘Ichiyo’ open with pale pink flowers which also fade as they age, to almost white.
You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
April 13, 2022. Here are two cultivars with small double pink flowers. ‘Yae-beni-shidare’ (double red weeping) should be an early mid-season bloomer, but it’s still holding onto its rose-like flowers. ‘Kiku-shidare-zakura’ (chrysanthemum weeping) is usually a late bloomer with much denser pompom flowers.
You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
April 12, 2022. Today we’re doing late season cherries with good stories – thanks to Cherry Scout Shirley Willard for these links. ‘Yokihi’ refers to the story of Yang Guifei (Yokihi in Japanese), who rose from obscurity to win the heart of an emperor, before causing his downfall and that of the entire Tang Dynasty. ‘Ama-no-gawa’ is associated with the love story of Tanabata Matsuri, with a happier ending. You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
April 11, 2022. While we’re still seeing mid-season blossoms, scouts are posting photos of late-season trees ready to burst open. In many neighbourhoods, ‘Ama-no-gawa’ and ‘Ukon’ are open now. They are both unusual for cherries – the first for flowers that “hang” up, not down, and ‘Ukon’ for their yellow colour (the name refers to turmeric) when the flowers first open. You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
April 10, 2022. It’s a race now to show off the lovely mid-season flowers before the showy end-season is upon us. Schmitt cherries have flowers so small, on trees so narrow and tall, that they are easy to miss. On the other hand, ‘Tai-haku’, the Great White cherry, has the largest flowers, to 6cm, sometimes on beautiful wide-spreading trees. You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
April 9, 2022. Two late-mid-season cultivars today, with relatively large single flowers. ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ are goblet-shaped trees, not large, generally not healthy-looking. The beautiful mostly single flowers can reach 6cm across, and they occasionally have some extra petals, which caused the royal carriage of its name to return to check whether the flowers were single or double. The old ‘Ojochin’ in Stanley Park has similar-looking flowers, to 5cm, but they hang lantern-like befitting the meaning of their name. You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
April 8, 2022. It’s still mid-season. Here is another single-white cherry – ‘Umineko’, with petals supposedly reminiscent of a seagull’s wing, for which it is named. The petals are so rounded that the flowers appear to have a star-shape formed where they overlap. The trees’ upright shape distinguishes it from other single-white-flowered cherries. ‘Snow Goose’ has the same parents and looks identical. That the flowers in these photos look different is really just early and late stages of flowering. You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.
April 7, 2022. It’s still mid-season. Though late bloomers are starting to open, you can still see the mid-season ‘Rancho’ and ‘Takasago’ looking good. You can share your finds on our forums at VCBF Neighbourhood Blogs | UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
These have been featured photos on the Blooming Now page.