My big excitement yesterday was noticing this 'Washi-no-o' on the Azalea path in the Greig Rhododendron Garden in Stanley Park. For 17 years, I've just assumed it was a 'Somei-yoshino', but yesterday for some reason I looked and noticed that the blossom balls were looking unusually ragged. Well, that was the "eagle's tail" petal edges. I thought I could do better today with a real camera. That turned out to not be the case, but today's excitement was at the nearby 'Shujaku' running into @Jacqueline Lee of the BC Green Club - she led the walk in Mandarin for VCBF this year; she is also a cherry scout. She was with her friend Grace). She agreed that this looks like 'Washi-no-o', had also always thought it was 'Somei-yoshino' and never bothered to examine it closely. The 'Shujaku' has many more open flowers today than yesterday, so today's photos with the zoom lens are better than yesterday's. The second photo makes me think of wallpaper. Jacqueline agreed with me that this is 'Akebono', though it's much more upright than I usually see, and has flowers the same time as Birch Bark Cherry and 'Shujaku'. I think it's low grafted, and it reminds me of the rootstock growth on the tree featured at https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/what-ornamental-rootstock-on-this-akebono.72743/, which @Douglas Justice insisted is 'Akebono', so I'll insist this one is as well. Pedicels are yoshino hairy, but not as fuzzy as on 'Somei-yoshino'.
The 'Gyoiko' blooms are coming along. Yesterday in the sunshine, they looked golden. Today they looked more green. The last cluster is just opening. I often think these flowers look more green in photos than they really looked, but that cluster really did look that green. Here is presumably the same cultivar maybe 70 meters away inside the Pitch and Putt course. The two huge nearby 'Shirotae' still look quite fresh. The first photo shows one of them on the left, to compare with the 'Gyoiko' farther away on the right. The two Birch Bark Cherries are in bloom. They're the last cherry in our book, supposed to be last to bloom.
This 'Umineko' just inside the Pitch and Putt has a healthy crop of 'Umineko' suckers. It's an old tree, and when I first gave it a name, we didn't know the name 'Snow Goose', so we're calling all the obviously old trees 'Umineko'. Here are the 'Snow Goose' just inside the PnP that came in with labels, planted in 2009. They were first posted at https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/west-end-stanley-park.35159/page-9#post-277716. @Willard posted the row of 'Snow Goose' along the bike path at Ceperley Meadow in posting #795. Here is the row of Prunus avium sucker trees around 5 meters in back of them. This 'Kanzan' just inside the golf course at the Camellia path will be all Prunus avium in a few years.
April 10th 2024 at Japanese veterans of several wars memorial lantern near Stanley Park miniature train (Translink trolley bus loop route #19) beautiful and peaceful … the pleasant Translink driver asked if we needed help finding trees :) (Sakura spirit :) driver also pointed out that the water ponds slightly upslope of this tree grove have been decommissioned —- i hope the trees didn’t count on seeping from those ponds - here are photos i am curious how old the trees at memorial are (variety is interesting too … I’ve misplaced my iPhone map :( photos of trees and rhodos the yellow circle magnification indicates large bolt securing the branches in the elder tree close to memorial
That's ok - all the blue markers are missing right now, so it wouldn't have helped you with the one 'Ojochin' at the Japanese memorial. The fluffy whites are 'Shirotae'. I've added the third photo to the Favourites in Bloom section of the VCBF Blooming Now - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca) page. The ones just opening in the grove next to the miniature railway are 'Shiro-fugen', and I'm very surprised that they are not much behind those in the rest of the area.
April 11, 2024 grey with light rain showers this is Bute St between Robson and Alberni - all quite new construction (15 years?) (BC Liquor store is behind me taking pix) easy to view off the Translink routes - 257 / 44 / Robson (is that 5?) photo with pedestrian in dark jacket is looking north on Bute photo with yellow circle shows a lane west off bute st and person walking by said a couple weeks approx back, there were nice blossoms in that lane (one would need to verify on official map)
I don't do tree age estimates. From postings in this thread, I have read that the memorial was built in 1925, and we assume the tree came with the gift of cherries from Japan in the 1930's.
This is Thursday April 11/24 just past noon PDT high grey skies with some light showers West Georgia St between Burrard & Thurlow Trees on both south side and on north side of Georgia St (Royal Center Mall / Arthur Erickson plaza aka former Mac Blo building — close to Burrard Skytrain stn with its Art Phillips former mayor plaza) technically, these pix are on the official border of Map 1 and map 2 (see attached) what’s a day without the construction safety scaffold zones over sidewalks in Vancouver — I’d be lost :) i like the photo of contrast between natural cherry blossoms & modern construction & scaffolds plus venerable 1939 Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (sakura tea) … current UK King Charles’ grandparents attended when it opened @Acerholic (our forum contributor “across the pond” ) One can with far more skill than I w/ my old ph could find a great view with office tower blossom reflections it appears the trees are healthy That said, i can’t imagine putting roots down and leaves and blossoms above — only 12 inches away from one of busiest downtown streets (West Georgia) viewing is easy along this 2 block stretch from any 250 or 257 bus and is close to Burrard Skytrain For more blossoms, you can walk back around along Bute then Alberni if you are in a lunch break walk. (A rectangle shape)
I discovered another 'Shogetsu' at the back of the Westsea Apartments building, visible from Henshaw Lane in the 1600 block. The fifth photo shows the 'Shogetsu' holding up a cotoneaster. There are also four 'Kanzan' visible from the lane, and two or three visible from the Nelson Street side of the building.
Here is a little urban grove of 'Shiro-fugen', maybe six of them, on the NE corner of Burrard and Pacific. The 'Kanzan' flowers on Davie are almost entirely finished now, except for this one youngster. You can see how much behind in blooming it is from the tree behind it. Most 'Kanzan' flowers now are lighter in colour than the 'Shiro-fugen' flowers pictured above.
The 'Kiku-zakura' on Robson west of Gilford is past full bloom but is still looking pretty good, with several 2nd story flowers developing. This one is the best example of the 2nd story flower bud:
The 'Shiro-fugen' still look good, outside the miniature railroad, across from the allee of 'Shirotae'. Where there were two 'Rancho' outside Malkin Bowl, there is now only one.
