April 28, 2026 We’re about to close down the 2026 blooming season with our most popular trees trying to mimic each other. The ubiquitous ‘Kanzan’ trees delighted us when they opened with their bronze leaves and double pink flowers, while the less common but still widely planted ‘Shiro-fugen’ opened with bronze leaves and white flowers. Photos by Laura Blumenthal and Shirley Willard.
Not even two weeks later, ‘Kanzan’ trees were sporting green leaves, with pink flowers fading to white, while ‘Shiro-fugen’ had almost the same characteristics – green leaves and pink flowers. For sure, there are differences, but distinguishing the two trees late in the season is a lot more tricky than catching them when the flowers first appear. Photos by Tao Yan and Anne Eng.
The ‘Shiro-fugen’ trees will hold interest for another few weeks, as new white flowers open while many aging flowers remain on the trees, turning in some cases fluorescent pink, occasionally with leaf-like or structures or new petals emerging in the centre of the flowers. Tao Yan’s photo.
