From Wendy Cutler:
Anne Eng (aka Anne Mah) has posted some photos of Takasago blossoms.
The problem with “Takasago”, as Douglas Justice said about a different kind of cherry, is that they are “exquisite flowers on ugly trees”. On the festival Cherry Cultivars page, he says “This cherry’s tight, clustered flowers unfortunately also increase its susceptibility to disease, and most specimens in Vancouver are badly disfigured”. By which he means that they have brown rot all over them.
The blossoms are particularly beautiful when they’re first coming out, when the buds are almost red and the flowers open to white, demonstrated beautifully in Anne’s photos. They’re coming out now, so it’s time to look for them.