Vancouver Cherry Blossom FestivalPresented by
Accolade cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. Don’t miss the opportunity to photograph the buds (bright pink) and the newly open flower.
Check out the VCBF neighborhood map to find Accolade cherry trees in your area.
All photos by Jessica Tremblay shot today at MacLean/Broadway.
At Vancouver City Hall, the Accolades cherry trees are in bloom!
From the bottom of the stairs, the view is beautiful.
There are lots of people coming and going (it’s city hall, after all), so if you’re going to take pictures on a weekday, you might have to be patient to get a photo without people in it.
The statue of Captain George Vancouver makes this a fun location: with the right angle, you can get him pointing to the cherry blossoms!
You can do really nice close-ups of the Accolade cherry blossoms from the top of the stairs: you’re at the same height as the canopy!
The 12 storey city hall building makes a nice background.
Good spot for Hanami picnic? Absolutely!
There are two park benches under the cherry trees, so it’s a great place to have a picnic.
You can enjoy your lunch as cherry petals fall gently around you.
If you stay there long enough, cherry petals will fall in your open palm.
Location: Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue. The building is served by the Broadway–City Hall Station on SkyTrain’s Canada Line, 99-B line bus and #9 bus.
Go by this week-end, but definitely within the next week.
The blossoms have just opened on this Accolade cherry tree, located on Broadway and McLean.
At the beginning of spring, it’s fascinating to observe how Accolade cherry buds turn into blossoms.
Accolade cherry buds start bright pink, but when the flowers open, they get more pale. In this picture, you can see the various shades of pink – from the bud (dark) to the blossom (pale).
This newly-opened blossom has a major case of “bed hair” — the petals curl up a bit – but it’s so adorable! Once opened, Accolade blossoms turn pale pink. You can still see a bit of dark pink at the edge of the petals on this photo. Proof that this blossom is very young and was still a dark pink bud yesterday.
Accolade cherry blossoms are my favorite flowers to photograph. The flowers are quite big and on a sunny day, they give you the best photo opportunity. Too bad it was cloudy during my visit.
Accolades are the second cultivars of cherry trees to open in Vancouver in the spring , right after the Whitcombs. Since at the beginning of spring, there are only two cultivars of cherry trees blooming, it’s easy to identify them: the Accolades have large pale pink blossoms, the Whitcombs have small dark pink blossoms.
For more information about Accolade and other Vancouver cherry trees, check out the 2014 guide to Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver.
Photo tip: there are two Accolade cherry trees at this location. The branches crawl up towards an apartment building, so it’s not a good location for wide shots. The branches have very few blossoms, but there are plenty of opportunities for good close-ups, especially if you go now, to capture the buds.
Accolades blossoms look their best when they just opened. For best results, visit this location within 2-3 days.The tree should be in bloom for another 7-10 days, but then you shouldn’t expect much.
Is it a good spot for hanami picnic? No. The trees are on a private property with a fence and next to the busy Broadway street.
Find Accolade cherry trees in your area on our neighborhood maps.