This infographic will tell you some of the differences between cherry trees and plum trees. If you wanna know more, check out these other blog posts:
Plum trees versus cherry trees: how to tell the difference and identify them
Tag: Vancouver cherry blossoms
The beautiful Akebono cherry trees are full of buds at Burrard skytrain station.
Some flowers are out already.
The location should be in full bloom within 2-3 days.
Plan to visit soon when the blossoms will open.
You’ll find over a dozen Autumnalis Rosea cherry trees blooming now on Georgia street. The trees are spread, in groups of two or three, over five blocks (between Willingdon and MacDonald).
Autumnalis Rosea are “winter cherries”. They start blooming in December and last until February-March.
The Autumnalis Rosea blossoms are small and sparse on the branches. Not as spectacular as our spring cherries, but still worth a visit.
With a zoom, you’ll be able to isolate the flowers and get a good close-up.
February is usually the peak blooming period for Autumnalis Rosea, so don’t miss them.
Check the VCBF Neighborhood maps to locate autumnalis rosea in your area.
I walked on Georgia all the way down to MacDonald. When I turned to walk back towards Willingdon, I noticed the moon peaking between cherry branches. (This was taken January 28, 2015. If you hurry, you might be able to take the same shot).
The blossoms are falling on the pavement.
Take a moment to photograph the fallen petals or blossoms at your feet: they make good pictures too!
Autumnalis Rosea photos taken by Jessica Tremblay on January 28, 2015 on Georgia street (five blocks between Willingdon and MacDonals)
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Rancho at Pacific Centre (Georgia/Howe)
There are seven Rancho cherry trees outside Pacific Centre (Georgia/Howe) in Downtown Vancouver.
The blossoms are quite large and bright pink.
The leaves are reddinsh brown (with a touch of green) and coming out with the flowers.
It looks like there are only three flowers coming out of each bud.
Good spot for hanami picnic? There are circular benches around each cherry tree, as well as metal benches nearby. However, it’s a busy location, with people coming in and ouf of the shopping mall. Inside the atrium at Pacific Center, there are lots of seats facing the trees, so it’s a good place to do your cherry blossom viewing indoors or to have a picnic inside on a rainy day.
Downsides: There are Christmas lights are wrapped around the trunk and branches, and they will probably be visible in your pics. On the other hand, this might be a fun location to try to take pics of cherry blossoms by night.
Photo tips: try taking pictures of the cherry blossoms with the Georgia Hotel sign, the clock tower, the round lampshades, or against the windows of skyscrapers. This is a fun location for photographers.
The Rancho flowers are big, bright pink and and really cute. The trees are small, but they are worth a visit, especially if you’ve never seen a Rancho cherry tree (you’ll get to see seven at this location).
Check out our neighborhood maps to find Rancho cherry trees in your area.
At the end of March, when you see rows of pink trees, in Vancouver don’t be too quick to yell “Cherry blossoms!” These trees might be plum trees – not cherry trees! To find out, you’ll have to get closer.
There are 12,000 plum blossoms in Vancouver. Plum trees are beautiful, but since the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival aims at celebrating the beauty of cherry blossoms – not plum blossoms – we prepared this guide to help you to know the difference between plum blossoms and cherry blossoms.
The main characteristics of plum blossoms are:
- fragrant (they smell good)
- no split at the end of petals
- dark trunk with no horizontal lines
Check this out:
The smell of plum blossoms: Plum blossoms are very fragrant. At this distance, if your tree smells good and “flowery”, it’s probably a plum tree.
The smell of cherry blossoms: The early cherry blossoms are not fragrant. They don’t smell good or “flowery”. Their smell is very faint (almost non-existent), except for some rare cultivars in mid-season that can be very fragrant.
Petals of plum blossoms: Plum petals are oval. There is no split at the end of the petals.
Petals of cherry blossoms: Cherry blossoms have a small split at the end of each petal.
Bark on plum trees: The bark of plum trees is dark and does not have horizontal bars.
Bark on cherry trees: the bark of cherry trees is light grey and has horizontal lines called “Lenticels”.
Buds of plum blossoms: The plum buds are round and there is only one blossom coming out of each bud. They stick straight out from the branches on a short thin stem.
Buds of cherry blossoms: Cherry buds are oval. There is more than one blossom coming out of the bud (in this picture, six flowers are coming out of the bud.)
Leaves of plum: If the leaves are purple, then it’s definitely a plum tree. Plums leave come out with the flowers and unroll from a cigar shape.
Leaves of cherry: The leaves of cherry trees are green (or copper) and, for the early cherries, come out usually after the flowers. Cherry leaves unfold like a billfold opening.
Grafts: On plum trees, the grafts are placed on the branches. They grow vertically on the branches. These grafts will be more visible in early spring before the flowers bloom.
Grafts: On cherry trees, the graft is placed on top of the trunk so the tree looks “stompy”.
The shape of plum: mostly round or oval.
The shape of cherry trees: umbrella shape (the branches are spreading, so the top is wide than the bottom).
Colour: plum blossoms can be pink (with purple leaves) or white (with green leaves)
Colour: cherry blossoms can be dark pink, light pink, white, yellowish. The leaves are copper or green and come out usually after the flowers.
Plum characteristics: When all the plum blossoms are open, you can’t see the buds – and it’s hard to see the grafts – so you’ll have to rely on the plum blossoms main characteristics:
- fragrant (smell “flowery”)
- no split at the end of the petals
- dark trunk (with no horizontal lines)
Cherry characteristics: There are over 54 varieties of cherry blossoms but they all share the same characteristics:
- a split at the end of each petal
- the light-grey trunk has horizontal bars
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Think you got it? Take the test!
Cherry or plum blossoms?
Answer: plum.
Purple leaves and no split at the end of the petals.
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Answer: plum.
No split at the end of petals. One flower coming out of the bud. Smells “flowery”.
***
Answer: cherry.
Split at the end of the petals.
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Answer: cherry.
Horizontal lines on the bark.
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You might also like:
Cherry versus plum blossoms: What’s the difference (March 28, 2013)
How to tell the difference between cherry trees and plum trees (infographic)
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To learn how to identify 54 varieties of cherry blossoms, buy Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver, by Douglas Justice. Happy cherry blossom viewing!
There are four Whitcomb cherry trees in full bloom in a small park located on Nicola (corner of Pendrell) in the West-End of Vancouver.
Little birds are playing in the Whitcomb cherry blossoms, which makes it a really fun location.
The blossoms are located high up in the trees: you’ll need a good zoom on your camera.
Petals are already falling, so hurry up to see these beautiful cherry trees!
Find more Whitcomb cherry trees in your neighboorhood.
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Prunus Avium
Prunus Avium are sweet cherry, also called Mazzard Cherry.
Prunus avium are easily recognizable by the recurved sepals (which means the leafy part that would usually cover the back of the flowers, like a star shape, is sticking up instead).
Prunus Avium can be pretty, but we don’t consider them ornamental. They’re the European tree that’s used as the rootstock for a lot of our ornamental cherries, and cultivars of which provide the cherries we eat (like the “Bing” cherries).
Usually they come out at ‘Kanzan’ time, so you can see lots of trees that are half pink, half white, where the vigorous white avium rootstock trunk is starting to take over the ‘Kanzan’ on top. The two-tone trees are mid-takeover.
You’ll also see a street of pink ‘Kanzan’ with one white avium tree. That avium probably started life as a ‘Kanzan’.
For more description, see
Prunus Avium – Small singles, green leaves, large round tree, mid to late season
Prunus Avium can be even more beautiful than ‘Akebono’ because generally they’re not grafted (well, in orchards, they’re grafted, as there are all those different eating cherry cultivars).
There are lots of other things to confuse them with – Sargentii hybrids (not in our book), O-yama-zakura (in our book as Sargentii), ‘Somei-yoshino’, but those trees usually bloom earlier than avium trees.
Some people may confuse them with ‘Tai Haku’, but that cultivar’s flowers are much larger. More likely, you will confuse them with pears and crab apples. Look at the bark, and look at the back of the blossoms.
Avium is not in our book, but you’ll find a photo of Avium ‘Plena’, the double-flower variety, in Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver.
(Source: information provided by Wendy Cutler).
To find out if there are prunus avium in your neighborhood, check out the VCBF cherry blossom viewing map.
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Burrard Station Update
At the Burrard skytrain station there are lots of cherry buds right now but only a few cherry blossoms are open.
The Akebono cherry blossoms should be open by the end of this week.
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Akebono at Burrard station
This Akebono cherry tree located outside Burrard sky train station (facing Robson street) is starting to bloom.
It’s a great location to take pictures of budding blossoms but it’s essential that you go in the morning to catch the morning sun (otherwise the tree will be shaded by nearby buildings).
The light was just perfect this morning at 9.30am.
The cherry tree is mostly buds at the moment, but if you have a good zoom on your camera you can do closeups of fully formed blossoms.
These budding cherry blossoms will delight visitors in a few days!
Photography tips: great location to catch budding Akebono cherry blossoms. A few blossoms are also open. It’s essential to visit in the morning before the tree get shaded by neighboring buildings. (These pictures were taken at 9.30am).
Cherry blossom viewing tip: wait 5-7 days to visit this location (the blossoms will be fully formed then).
Did you know? This Akebono cherry tree was planted by VCBF Director Linda Poole in March 2006. Look how tall it has grown since!
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First Accolade (Richards and Robson)
The rumors are true. There’s an Accolade cherry tree blossoming in January! The tree is located on Richards street (corner Robson) right across from the Starbucks. Here are pictures I took this morning.
Tip: to find out where you can find Accolades cherry trees in Vancouver, check out the VCBF Cherry Blossom Viewing map.
