Vancouver cherry blossom viewing - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

After a first day of teleworking, I reward myself with one hour of cherry blossom viewing.

At this time, the instructions from the city of Vancouver regarding the control of COVID-19 say you’re allowed to go outside as long as you maintain social distancing and don’t congregate in groups. This means no cherry blossom picnics, but a quick walk by yourself in the neighbourhood is fine.

The Whitcomb cherry trees at Ayshire and Aubrey are fully bloomed. The flowers are beautiful. They’re buzzing with bees! Petals haven’t started to fall yet.

This Accolade tree at Halifax and Kensington might be missing a branch or two, but the blossoms are splendid! Accolade are only about 20-30% bloomed in Burnaby, so you have another 7-10 days to visit.

The Okame cherry tree at Charles and Fell might be slightly past its prime — lots of tiny petals on the ground, and most remaining blossoms have missing petals — but it’s such a rare tree that it’s worth a trip. Visit within 5 days.

By the way, Okame have some of the smallest petals I’ve ever seen on the ground. So cute!

Tip: Visit in the morning or early afternoon. The sun set behind the house, which blocks the light. These pics were taken about 5 pm and there was only one ray of sunshine at the top of the canopy.

Also make sure to take a photo of the long calyx (the back of the flower), since that’s what this flower is famous for.

I hope you’re taking care of yourself in these difficult times.If you are feeling stressed, go out and visit a cherry tree in your neighbourhood. (You can use the VCBF Neighbourhood map to find the trees blooming now in your area). And pleasee maintain social distancing.

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.

Don’t miss out on sakura!