'Takasago' are in bloom along Comox Street, around three per block, some less attractive than others.
Here is a little West End stroll. I started in the Downtown neighbourhood, so am not including that, but my first West End stop was at this nice group of three 'Shirotae' at a building on Georgia west of Denman. They were last reported here ten years ago. This is a distance shot of the 'Akebono' groves on each side of Georgia at the entrance to Stanley Park. The trees are karge enough now to put on a good show. I rounded the corner to go south on Lagoon Drive, passing the three or four 'Rancho' next to the tennis courts. One of the paths down to Lost Lagoon leads directly to these two old 'Shirotae'. From the second photo, you can see the three much younger 'Shirotae', also getting old enough to be impressive. There is also a 'Somei-yoshino still in bloom nearby. I didn't photograph all the cherries. Here is a map of the route I'll follow on Wednesday with my walking group.
What a coincidence, I'm heading Downtown tomorrow too to settle some stuff. May bump into your group as some of my selected stops match yours :) Hope it will be a nice sunny day!
We intended to check out the Ojochin at Stanley Park but our friends said it was lunch time so we had to give it a miss this time round. The Amanogawa at Bute and Alberni have branches at eye level so that made pictures easy though there's construction. Korean Hill Cherry looks like it's nearing the end of its bloom. Mikuruma gaeshi took us a long time as we were trying to find the double flowers. We decided they probably just have extra petalloids and aren't double? Sendai-shidare looked like a larger version of bushy squirrel tails. And we saw a couple of Yae-beni-shidare around which were out in bloom too! Can't wait for the other multi-layered lates ones like Kanzan, Pink Perfection, Kiku-zakura, etc. to be out!
Thanks for the heads up on the ‘Ichiyo’, Wendy. The pair on ted northe, east of Cardero are at peak bloom.
You're pretty much right. There is a photo in this Ornamental Cherries thread that's about as double as they get: Identification: - Mikuruma-gaeshi - Single pinks, bronzy green leaves, mid-season
I couldn’t find any double flowers on this ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ today, either. On Pendrell, east of Gilford.
I just drove by them - they look so elegant in front of that lovely building. And it's a good location for them, I'm hoping - in the sun with the heat of the building behind. There are others in the West End tucked into appropriately-sized spaces, but not in the sun.
Pair of ‘Kanzan’ starting to bloom on the SW corner of Haro and Denman. Won’t be long now and the city will be awash with pink.
This 'Shogetsu' on Pantages Lane at Cardero has made a limited appearance in this thread, maybe because every year looks like it will be its last. Since there is only one other 'Shogetsu' in the West End, which seems not even likely to outlive this one, I'll give this one its moment on the map. There is a habit photo at West End / Stanley Park.
On my way to meet Wendy Cutler for a session of power cherry scouting yesterday, I walked by these ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’ on Pendrell Street, between Chilco and Denman. It didn’t take too long to find some blossoms with extra petaloids (perhaps portending a good day?). It was. We viewed several spectacular trees in decent weather. Thank you Wendy for all that you do.
These still look excellent, but the Veronica surrounding one of them has half-disappeared, revealing the avium rootstock growth. This would be easy enough to control on this individual, but much more difficult on the other one.
Here are 'Ama-no-gawa' at a new building planted, I think last year, but time might be slipping away from me. It's an appropriately-sized spot for them, but very shaded. The 'Shogetsu' in Pantages lane is just starting to open. 'Shirotae' at Lost Lagoon may be past their peak, but they were still worth walking out of my way to see, and they're still fragrant. 'Kanzan' don't usually show up while 'Shirotae' are still open, but the park and the West End streets are in the same neighbourhood but have quite different temperatures.
Stanley Park was beautiful on Saturday. We found a kind lady who told us that a Japanese gentleman told her about this cherry tree with green petals that she needs to view in Stanley Park. But she was pointing to the Shirotae and we've not seen the Gyoiko at that point so we just politely thanked her for the information and smiled. Then we found the Gyoiko a few metres away that was just starting to bloom and went to look for her to show her the petals which were really green. She was really sweet and told us she couldn't believe that she's been there all these years and not noticed it, and instead pointed out the wrong tree to everyone she met :) The Shujaku was also not at peak bloom yet but flowers are staring to show.
Thanks, Yong. Two good deeds in one day - I was wondering when it would be time to see the 'Shujaku'.
The intersection of Cardero and Harwood has 'Kanzan' running to the beach in two directions. This is two blocks east at Broughton and Harwood. A block east at Jervis and Harwood, looking north. Another block east, at Bute and Harwood, looking south and north. On Harwood is this building with four 'Kanzan' framing the entrance. On Broughton at Harwood, NW corner, are four young 'Shiro-fugen'. Here is the 'Shogetsu' posted earlier, now in full bloom. The leaves are very green, in contrast with the 'Shiro-fugen' just above. You can imagine how it got its name meaning "moonlight on pine trees".
Gosh that’s amazing and a sweet story too WHERE IS the green petal tree? we had the blessing of extra time the other early morning so walked over from parking near VPD and tourist trolley horse stables (Stanley park) and through the bus loop near miniature train to pay our respects at the Japanese soldiers memorial 1920 I love that classic allée the parks gardener crew were out and helpful friendly with info about various plants ~ what is said about meeting people under cherry blossoms? Vancouver still is pleasantly small town when you end up chatting with someone who knows someone etc on a diff part of the province
A visit at approx 745am PDT on Tue April 19/22 It was cloudy and cool some insects (bees) and this hummingbird (I could not see if it was Anna’s or Rufous) and I think someone’s super gorgeous penthouse nest —- I say a clever crow this memorial was erected in 1920 to honor WW 1 veterans of Japanese ancestry I do not know the trees or ages there is one elder tree with metal bolts to hold it together and it’s putting forth beautiful leaves and blossoms to this day
These are at peak bloom today, three days later. That is the 'Gyoiko'. If you do a query for Gyoiko and Shujaku (you can select both) at Neighbourhood Maps (vcbf.ca) you can see the marker for those two. The lower marker is the 'Gyoiko'. It's much better on a desktop - you only get a half-screen of map on a phone, and only if you turn it to landscape position. The new "mobile-friendly" map on the VCBF website won't show you those two at all. I suggest you bookmark that URL for the old map - you can't get to it on a phone from the festival website.
There's something very appealing with this wild unkempt look that I really like. Sadly not suitable for roadsides.
Two well-situated ‘Shirofugen’ at Kensington Place on Nicola and Beach are starting to bloom. They look best in afternoon light.
