Good morning Steven, thankyou for the reply, i'ts a great camera, but it has to be used by someone who has a very good eye also, which you certainly have. Look forward to many more postings from you in the future, as I'm sure everyone else is.
This is as full bloom as it gets for Tibetan birch bark cherry (Prunus serrula). Very sparingly produced, indeed, in VanDusen's Sino-Himalayan Garden at April 19, 2021. According to one gardener, it was not planted, but seeded itself. That's why it's doing so well with its glossy, mahogany bark.
VanDusen's Avium Plena (Autumn Stroll area, next to Service Gate 6) is also a sparing bloom producer, but choice, very choice! Opening at April 19, 2021. Recurved sepals, umbel inflorescence instead of corymb, obvious in last photo.
Standing right behind Avium Plena, but with contrasting profuse flowering, is Ukon—at full bloom at April 19, 2021, in the same Autumn Stroll area, next to Service Gate 6.
VanDusen's Gate 6 area is one of three concentrations of cherry trees; the other two being the Great Lawn and the Rhododendron Walk. On the one side of Gate 6 are the older plantings such as Schmitt, Avium Plena and Ukon. On the other, are the newer plantings of Kanzan and the three Shirotae that are in peak bloom at April 19, 2021.
The older ones were planted by the garden. In one of our guide-gardener walks and talks, I seem to recall someone asking about why this particular young Serrula looked so much better than all the others. He said it was because they didn't plant it; it grew up and attracted their notice and they made sure to look after it as if they had! Here's my first picture of it on April 15, 2013.
Love that bark Anne, so many ignore the bark on trees, (not on this forum I must add). My wife and I have made sure we plant trees for all purposes and not just the leaves, as some might imagine we do, due to the amount of maples we have. Enjoyed this post very much.
I love that bark too, on the Birchbark cherry trees. I do NOT like it used as a pole on which to graft some other totally unrelated cherry.
We are so used to focusing on the flowers, we forget that cherry trees have cherries. All the Snofozam trees in VanDusen are now laden with small fruit and I'm happy to report, contrary to some sources, they are neither sparse nor inedible. At May 28, 2021.
I saw some still green cherries on my favourite new 'Snofozam' in the West End today. Maybe I'll wait and see if I remember to look when they're ripe.
But not around for very long, as over here the Blackbirds strip the Cherry trees almost overnight of their fruits. You have made a very good point though Anne, we must also look up after the blossom has gone.
It may be on the scrawny and skinny side, but 'Whitcomb' is bending backwards to give VanDusen Garden the first full cherry tree bloom at March 20, 2022. Finally got a shot of the "short, sparsely hairy pedicels" (pubescence) on the flowers.
I repent previous unkind thoughts about Prunus incisa, 'Little Twist'. It's a scrawny thing like the 'Whitcomb', with none of the graceful lines of the 'Whitcomb' since it has been grafted onto an incongruous Tibetan birchbark rootstock. Nonetheless, it is making full bloom very close to 'Whitcomb' time at March 20, 2022. In addition, even in rain, you can see the "striking" and "incised" serrations on the emerging leaves, an identification marker for Prunus incisa (Kuitert, Japanese Flowering Cherries, p. 153). So, it's puny, but true.
How can 'Snow Goose' do this to VanDusen? Past peak bloom already on the Great Lawn at April 1, 2022, nine days before we can brag about it on Sakura Days.
Although it has the same parents as Snow Goose— 'Umineko' is a little behind in the bloom at VanDusen, so it looks fresher on April 1, 2022.
April 2, 2022 Location: Van Dusen Darden Great Lawn Full Bloom Rushed over to Van Dusen Garden before the rain sets in. I hope it will last till next week when Sakura Days Japan Festival is happening.
It's not often that this happens, but on the eve of Sakura Days, 'Tai-haku' is blooming in VanDusen's Cherry Grove at April 8, 2022. You can see the three trees looming whitish above the 'Beni-shidare' cascade, which is fading in colour and bloom at this time.
