Prunus 'Tai-Haku' The great white cherry. You can see why so great. These flowers are huge compared to other cherry blossoms. Collingwood Ingram visited with Mr Funatsu in 1926. Mr Funatsu was quite old at that time and he showed Collingwood some paintings of cherries, one of which was painted by his great grandfather about 120 years prior. The paintings were very accurate. Mr Funatsu had been searching in vain for this large white flower variety which he called 'Akatsuki'. Collingwood Ingram had seen it at Mrs Freemans garden in Winchelsea and had named it 'Tai Haku'. Ingram had taken scion wood and these were the trees that Ingram sent back to Japan to reintroduce Tai Haku back to Japan . (source Collingwood INgram website) Collingwood Ingram was quite a character 1880-1981. He was an ornithologist, Artist, nurseryman. In the Royal Flying corp 1916. in 1926 went to Japan as part of the Cherry club or Sakura Kwai. 1940 he was a commander on the Home front. a personal connection to Van Dusen. He was friends with Erica Dunn's brother and when Collingwood thought he was going to die he gave his plants away.....when he got better and realized he was not going to die he asked for his plants back (personal communication with Erica Dunn!)
preparations for Sakura at Van Dusen. a lovely display by the Japanese Garden Association with Prunus subhirtella var pendula 'Beni Shidare' the weeping threadleaf, pink Japanese cherry. These were the ones that were given to VD in 1983 after the Queen had announced that Vancouver would be hosting Expo 86. The tree is just to the left of the beautiful display, overhanging everything as if you were in an intimate courtyard.
@Junglekeeper posted a link to an article about a new book about him that's due here at Chapters at the end of June: Appreciation: - [Book] 'Cherry' Ingram: An homage to the British savior of Japan's cherry blossoms
a terrible pic of Jo-Nioi. It is still blooming, but poor tree is not looking very good these days. Pic taken on good Friday. Scent was still there, but not as strong as other years. There are some magnolias close by and a large osmanthus so lots of plants to compete with for fragrance.
'Ukon" at VD on Friday. It is listed as this in the 2017 accession book....however the label seems to be missing off this tree this year... it has the greenish tinges to it, and a bare hint of pink.
Late cherry trees in bloom at VanDusen, April 27, 2019. On the Great Lawn: Royal Burgundy with its red leaves and pink flowers. With its "royal" name, it's ironic that it looks so much like "common" Kanzan. On the Great Lawn side of the Rhododendron Walk, Shirofugen and Shogetsu are in full bloom. At a distance, the Shirofugen tree looks more pink, but close up, the flowers have grown mainly white, and the leaves are turning from their bronze to green.
It's not been a good year for VanDusen's Jo-nioi what with Lisa dissing it. Nonetheless, the Supreme Incense still has presence and dominates its place on the Rhododendron Walk at April 27, 2019. Its eyes are red and its petals have gotten a greenish downcast, which I'm sure is a result of Lisa's criticism. Will do better next year!
a better picture of Jo-Nioi this time, but can't get a good close up of the flowers. It was looking much better on Sunday after a hectic day in the garden due to the plant sale.......Still I did not get as strong of a scent as I have in other years. Sorry Anne.. ;) There was a marvelous magnolia, 1 bed over though, that had amazing scent. Magnolia platypetala.
Shogetsu on the back of the rhodo walk, facing the great lawn. You can see the little ballerina legs, the green phyloid carpels, and the white frilly petals. Shogetsu means 'Midnight on the pine leaves' all per Kuitert's book on Japanese Cherries.
and Shirofugen, east of shogetsu at the back of the rhodo walk facing the great lawn. Pink in bud, white in flower, then fade to pink. i think this one is in middle age at this point??? -white. soon to fade... the leaves were bronzy, and you can see the green elephant trunk in the middle, which is the phylloid pistal, again per Kuitert's book. The one I see at ubc on my walk to the carpark is further along than this one. so I think Van Dusen is that much cooler than UBC...
I think this has to be the same Birchbark Cherry that Anne posted in 2013. It's not in bloom any more, but these get planted for their bark, not their little flowers.
Snofozam between two Akebono on the west side of Pine, south of W. 33rd, completing their bloom April 7, 2020. Last photo of Akebono's lightly-haired pedicels for Wendy.
Sargent Hybrid is usually found on the east side of the city, but here is its uncommon appearance on the west side. Two big trees and a runt on Marguerite Street, between W. 32nd and W. 33rd. In bloom April 7, 2020.
Somei-Yoshino in full bloom on west side of Cypress, north of Nanton (south of King Edward) on April 7, 2020. Note hairy pedicels in last photo.
Did someone at the Arbutus Club attend one of Linda's black-tie events? Fourteen Shirotae trees planted around main entrance and parking area at Nanton and Maple. In bloom April 7, 2020.
Only the top of this Shogetsu tree can be seen behind its protective fence on the SE corner of Selkirk and W. 27th at April 23, 2020.
I remember when we started discussing all the green we were seeing on some 'Ukon' trees, and Douglas Justice posted a photo that looked a lot like Lisa's, almost a solid yellowish white. It seems easier to find them streaked with green than to find them so solid-coloured like these (if there were something white in the photo, we'd notice the yellowish colour, supposedly, never mind that these appear more white than the 'Shirotae' in the previous photo - some photos are true to colour, some not).
VanDusen Garden's only early cherry is in bloom at March 11, 2021. The scrawny but game Whitcomb is carrying the cherry load until the Cherry Grove gets started.
It's a pathetic little thing, made extra ugly and incongruous by that birchbark rootstock, but as it has now shown up in public, here is VanDusen's Prunus incisa, 'Little Twist' at March 20, 2021.
It looks just like the others that have been posted. I agree with your assessment. Thanks for posting this.
I’ve only ever seen ‘Little Twist’ once before, and that was a small specimen for sale at West Van Florist in Dundarave. It was not on a birchbark rootstock. I almost bought it, but I didn’t have anywhere to plant it.
