UBC - Ito Kukuri, Biological Sciences Rd near West Mall The name of this cultivar means "bundled with thread" ... the five trees at this location are the only known specimens in Vancouver. Photos taken on Douglas's Walk and Talk, 25 April, 2009.
Re: Ito Kukuri - UBC, Biological Sciences Rd near West Mall What is it with these trees - only Douglas can get a blossom photo in focus? They're past prime on May 11, 2009, but there are still a lot of blossoms, so worth visiting if you want to see what they look like. This photo at least shows the hairs on the ends of the leaf margins. Note that there is one tree in front of the small wood building on the north side of the road, and four on the south side between the road and the parking area.
Mariko and I had some discussion today about whether this tree at Nitobe Memorial Garden is Shirofugen or not. The blossoms are more white than the other Shirofugens we know, and the leaves more green, but it's turning fluorescent pink from the centres like the Shirofugens we know. I don't know why I didn't take a blossom photo; maybe Mariko did. I tried to get a comparison in the second photo of a (another?) Shirofugen in the garden in the foreground, with the more bronze-coloured leaves and pinker flowers, and the more green and white appearance of this tree in the centre background. It's not as green and white as the Shogetsu trees in the garden and it has more of a Shirofugen habit.
Re: Taki-nioi and others This Taki-nioi is a large tree. I'm always surprised, maybe because it has such a beautiful graceful shape. It still has a lot of blossoms, but you can see that petals are falling and it's past its prime. We didn't notice any fragrance today, because the blossoms were so wet, or is it only fragrant until the blossoms start to fade? I didn't indicate on the map that there are two Shogetsu trees right near the Taki-nioi, one on each side of the path, and there's one Shogetsu near the Ojochin. The Ojochin flowers are gone now, but the Shogetsu trees look excellent.
I have noticed that trees in the shade have greener leaves - or perhaps I should say, less bronze leaves - than trees in full sun.
Re: Ubc - Chancellor Blvd Autumnalis Roseas First Posting 2010 The Autumnalis Rosea trees on Chancellor Blvd near Theology Mall are maybe as showy as they get now.
First Sighting of Cherries -- Autumnalis Rosea The sighting came as a surprise as I drove home from UBC. There were 4 AR outside of the Anglican Church on University Blvd. Although the flowers looked sparse from a distance, close-up shots shows abundant clusters. I am happy to be able to identify this species.
Re: Ubc - Okames The Okames are in full bloom at the Fraser Parkade across from Nitobe Memorial Garden. The ones on the parkade side look beautiful from a distance, and I could almost get a good looking blossom photo that doesn't show all the brown rot on the branches. The ones across the street are not nearly so impressive. Last year's peak bloom photos were taken March 21. The Okames at the UBC Farm are a little past their peak now.
Re: Ubc-Ito-Kukuri Mr. & Mrs. Chu reported 6 Ito-Kukuri are blooming on UBC Bio Science Road [edited 2011Mar14 by wcutler]: These were all cut down for building construction.
31-mar-2010 Regent College on Wesbrook Mall at University Blvd is blooming beautifully. The NORTH side of the college has a great grove of mature Shogetsu (light pink buds) which are full and just starting to fall. Still makes a nice low canopy. As Wendy mentioned, the SOUTH and WEST sides of the college have 40+ relatively young Shirotae (pure white). Mixed in with those are a few old Shogetsu which makes it a bit confusing. The Shirotae are almost in full bloom but the blossoms are fresh and should last for some time. The Easter weekend should be a beautiful bloom show since there are several large magnolias in bloom as well. p.s. note to Joseph. I'm actually just guessing, but there is a real obvious difference between these two that I've photographed, especially when one tree is right beside the other. The one that I think is Shirotae is pure, pure white and the other retains some of the pink. April 11, 2010 I examined the blossoms last week but my photos did not turn out well. The only difference between the two was a bit of pink and purple colour to different parts to the ones i had misidentied as Shogetsu. The ones i had identified as Shirotae were still very yellow, white and green with no pink at all. I now believe they are all Shirotae but different part of the lifecycle or some other influence. They are all just so beautiful with their big bouquets. With so many new plantings around this property, this is going to become more and more a point of interest in future.
I have hardly seen Shogetsu, even I visited and took photos at UBC Regent College on March 20. Unfortunately, I didn't look at the details of the flowers. Do we need to count the number of the petals to differentiate Shirotae (6~11) and Shogetsu (20~28)? Do we need to measure the length of their pedicels, Shirotae (1.5~3.5 cm) vs. Shogetsu (3.5~5.0 cm)? Both of their flower bud are light pink and become pure white. Both of their leaves are green. Both of their trees have a flatten crown.
Hmm - did I say that somewhere? I wonder if I was just wondering if a few of the older (or was it younger) ones were 'Shogetsu' or was I wondering if the 2007 favourite 'Shogetsu' was really at Regent College. I'm sorry, I can't remember and I haven't been there recently. I thought Douglas Justice said they were all 'Shirotae' at Regent College, which should lessen the confusion, but I don't remember if I'm making that up either. Generally, where 'Shirotae' are in full bloom now or faded, 'Shogetsu' in the same location are just starting up (the east side of the Bayshore Hotel at the foot of Cardero is a good place to see both cultivars). 'Shogetsu' pecidels should be longer, so the blossoms hang down more and face more downward, and the petal edges of 'Shogetsu' should be more frilly or cut up. In the faded blossoms, 'Shirotae' get red markings at the inner edge of the petals and 'Shogetsu' turn sort of pale pinky-purple-ish.
The Shogetsu are in full bloom in Nitobe garden right now. I love this cherry - there's a kind of modesty in the way it hangs, hiding the intricate beauty of the blossoms seen from below. I found it strange that the large Taki-nioi next to it (left of the entrance) is barely coming into bloom - most buds are closed. The other Taki-nioi near the small bridge to the right of the entrance is already finished (is that a taki-nioi?). Is that usual in the garden? Small ecosystems in different parts of the garden or is it just a strange year?
If I remember correctly, to the left is the 'Taki-nioi'; to the right are 'Ojochin' hanging over the water and 'Shogetsu' across the path from it.
Taki-nioi in full bloom in Nitobe at last! After three attempts, we finally saw Taki-nioi in full bloom today! Its translucent beauty accompanied with the fragrance upon our entry into the garden made all those prior attempts worthwhile! With the warm weather these days, the flowers are really coming out in a hurry.
Re: Ubc - more to see at Nitobe and UBC There are three other cherry cultivars in bloom at Nitobe right now. In addition to the several double pink 'Kanzan', there are 'Shirofugen', on the far side of the pond, and just across from the 'Taki-nioi' (to the left of the entrance) at the gazebo, double pink blossoms with bronze leaves. In two weeks or so, these trees will have fluorescent pink blossoms with green leaves. 'Shogetsu', double white blossoms with green leaves, just next to the 'Taki-nioi' (so it's hard to get a photo of it) and one near the pond to the right of the entrance, across the path from the 'Ojochin' that's hanging over the water, which has no blossoms left at all. And speaking of 'Shirofugen', there's a little grove of them on West Mall just south of Bio-Sciences Road. And two 'Shirofugen' (only one looks really nice) along Marine Drive at Marine Towers. The Ito-kukuri on Bio-Sciences Road are well past their prime, but they do still have blossoms, if you want to catch them before they're cut down. [edited 2011Mar14 by wcutler]: Oh, too late. They were all cut down today.
I thought I'd missed the 'Okame' peak bloom, as they look kind of terrible and everything seemed to be open when I had a quick look, but when Douglas Justice told me they weren't open last week, I went to have another look and took some photos. There are several clusters where everything is open, but still there are unopen buds. I'm pretty sure there's a photo posted in a previous year where you can see that the diameter of these blossoms is less than that of a penny - under 2cm. I think the moss is trying to tell us that it might be too wet here for these trees. I'd forgotten that these come out before 'Accolade', about two weeks before the 'Accolade' on Wesbrook. The three 'Whitcomb' on Marine Drive and University are in bloom. They've just been pruned. [Edited by wcutler 2012apr11: I'm pretty sure these are gone now] You can see serrated sepals in this photo.
We went to UBC today and were happy to see Okame still blooming. In spite of all the moss and lichens growing on the twigs and branches, the flowers were a good show. Dingren & Martin
As of March 21, 2011, Okames at Fraser Parkade were still blooming. If the weather had been nice, the photos would have turned out nicer too. Delightful sea of deep pink. I guess at a distance, the first picture shows Okame as good as it gets. Somehow, the rain-soaked blossoms look bigger than pennies, maybe due to the rain saturation. The red calyx are prominent.
Re: West End / Stanley Park Somei-yoshino Somei-yoshinos bloom in E Mall and W Mall in UBC [note from wcutler: the first two photos are Lower Mall]
Re: Ubc--Douglas Justice leading cherry walk I am glad to learn much on this cherry walk led by Douglas Justice on April 9. Thanks.
