Two plum cultivars are blooming nicely: the nigra not in full bloom yet but enough to add to the show put on by the earlier, lighter ones. Best area: Although not yet in full bloom, Quesnel Drive from King Edward W. down to 16th Ave. W. for the trees and the view over the city; 20th, 22nd and 23rd Avenues between Arbutus St. and MacDonald St. Trafalgar is almost in full bloom, Yew St. between 16th & King Edward also. None of our cherries is in bloom yet, although there are a few scattered Akebono that are approaching.
* POSTED - Serrula - Arbutus Ridge, SE corner King Edward at Valley Dr. Before this 'favourite' gets cluttered up with leaves and flowers sometime in late April it can be enjoyed now for it's distinctive and radiant bark.
Our neighborhood is roughly, bounded by 16th, Arbutus, 41st and MacKenzie; the 'Ridge' is to the south of 25th and curves eastward toward Mackenzie and Puget Dr. North of 25th is affectionately referred to as "Asthma Flats". The area has few of the early flowering cherries, but is heavily planted with plums; particularly Asthma Flats is cross hatched with plums, Accolades and Whitcombs would hardly stand a chance. Trafalgar School is guarded by remarkable phalanxes of white blossomed plums on the west and south sides. But enough about plums, we are here for the cherries. Akebonos are just coming into bloom on 40th from Yew St. into an east cul-de-sac and on 39th for a block east of Balsam on the south side in a private/public planting around an apartment block. Akebonos are sprinkled throughout the area seemingly as replacement trees, and are a joy to encounter with their distinctive structure and pink-beige look in full bud. Along Brakenridge nr. Eddington and also along 31st from MacKenzie to Trafalgar look for Takasagos just coming into bloom.
Not quite finished this thread- The main cherry streets are 16th, 20th, 33rd and 41st. Kanzans will likely dominate here but we will scout out any of the other late bloomers as they come into flower. These trees are closely planted, on both sides of the streets and will be fabulous for the pink lovers.
The last two replies got posted without permission! still had some some photos to attach. These two are plums Takasago just starting to bloom I think this is Somei-Yoshino in Ravine Park
This Accolade tree looks lonely and not so graceful at the SW corner of Trafalgar St. and 39 Ave., but does have beautiful flowers one on March 31. Accolade is really the most beautiful cherry in the first cherry wave.
Re: Serrula, SE corner King Edward at Valley Dr. This Serrula is showing bud swelling but is far from blooming.
On Quesnel Dr. at 27th there are two upright bright pink cherries with sticky bud scales. They meet the description of P. sargentii 'Rancho'.
Thank you for the postings: I think that there is a "Rancho" in blossom now on MacDonald east side between 19th & 20th - the only cherry for blocks of MacD. I want to check it out again tomorrow along with some others, and I'd like to see the Quesnel trees tomorrow, too.
Along 31st from MacDonald to Trafalgar there are a few Takasago trees coming into full bloom. Near the N/W corner of 31st and Trafalgar I think we have a 'Mikuruma-gaeshi' in nearly full bloom. It is next to a cherry with a few buds starting to open, the first of the pink party we will enjoy for the next few weeks of this lovely cherry blossom season. Hidden in a lane near 33rd and Larch a beautiful tree [private] of P. pendula 'Plena-rosea'
Kanzans are coming! Our area has many Kanzans, but 16th Ave. W of Arbutus to Blenheim (and beyond) is lined with Kanzans on both sides. Right now, the buds are just opening with only a few per tree open fully. In a few days, it will be spectacular, but right now the buds are purple, the sepals have separated, and the colour of the budding trees is quite unusual and very energetic. Between MacDonald St. and Blenheim, there are Ukons fully out and showing that greenish hue that the literature promises! 20th Ave. west of Arbutus also has many Kanzans. So far, I am calling all of these Kanzans because there isn't enough evidence yet to look for Pink Perfection. The trees on 16th seem to have been planted at the same time and will likely be all one cultivar, but we'll see. Our ranchos and sargentii have faded and blossoms have dwindled, but the Akebono often have enough blossom remaining to look light and airy and cheerful with their green leaves even on the dullest day. Our area is still pretty.
Note that 'Rancho' - if that's what they are, and not another such as P. sargentii 'Columnaris' (of which 'Rancho' might actually be a re-naming!) - is a P. sargentii cultivar. So saying "'Rancho' and P. sargentii" is like saying "Holsteins and cows".
Thank you. Is it correct then to say P. sargentii "Rancho" and "some other P. sargentii" ? It isn't clear from page 20 in our beginner booklet by D. Justice that P. sargentii must be followed always by a cultivar name. The trees I've been calling, so carelessly, "Rancho", look just like the ones in the photo on the bottom right of page 20.
If an example of a species is not known to belong to a named cultivar then it is called by the species name only. In practice grafted clones are often sold simply as a species but these are still called by the species name if they have not been described and named as a clonal selection. I don't know about the beginner's booklet, if this is where the names (such as 'Rancho') are being gotten that are being applied by multiple participants as though there was only a certain specific set of distinctive kinds present that would explain it. "If it's a columnar Sargent cherry it's 'Rancho'" and so on. If this determination has been made by D. Justice maybe he has some evidence for them all to be 'Rancho' there. Elsewhere there are other columnar forms present and also it is not clear how 'Rancho' differs from these, if it is not in fact a renaming of 'Columnaris' for instance. I suspect that 'Rancho' may have more highly colored flowers but I have not seen this stated anywhere so far - including what is visible of the US patent application description on the USPTO web site (these are often the most detailed - and only detailed - original accounts of patented plant introductions).
I wandered out of my neighborhood on Tuesday in seach of the Tibetan cherry tree--Serrula--because there isn't a photograph in the beginners' booklet and I am absolutely intrigued by it. Wendy told me there were two on Comox Street and now there are none. But standing majestically on the corner of Valley and King Ed, as if it's waiting for the bus, is a marvellous example. The blossoms were not even close to being open. Luckily two of the owners of the strata lot where Serrula lives came by and told me that their tree is the remaining one of a pair. They showed me the stump of its mate. Last year a car drove into Serrula and its trunk is scarred. It really looks like a warrior, but not shabby. (I wonder if anyone knows of a tree where the Serrula is used as the understock.) Anyway, I can hardly wait for the flowers. The locals took my phone number and promised to call when it blooms!
On Yew St. between 32cd and 33rd there are Avium Plena in a mature double row. They are tall [taller than a double story house], a bit rangy in form, and are not as pretty as they were 20 yrs. ago.
Above birchbark cherry has some kind of hideous problem, maybe black knot fungus. Uninfested specimen would be much more handsome.
Village Park, meandering from King Edward near Parkway Dr. south west toward Valley Drive is planted with several small groves of double pink cherry trees. The grass medians associated with King Edward Ave. near Arbutus have several fine specimen Kanzan trees.
I went back to Arbutus Ridge to check on the progress of the Serrula and there were blooms! I'm so sad that the tree has the terrible fungus problem because its blossoms are so sweet and unassuming as if they don't want to outshine the glorious bark, which, of course, I had to photograph again. After I left, I travelled on 16th and from Trafalgar to Arbutus is simply breathtaking with the Kanzans/Pink Perfection in their peak of ostentation. I did take a picture of Serrula's neighboring Kanzans (Pink Perfections) across the street where one of them has formed a gorgeous bower.
I like the floral display of this species also, it actually contrasts well with the bark. But the recurring response is to dismiss its flowering efforts as inadequately conspicuous. In fact, chimaeric grafted specimens have been produced wherein a showier Japanese flowering cherry is stuck onto a birchbark cherry trunk. The demarcation between the two barks is too apparent to produce a pleasing effect. Perhaps the worst examples are those consisting of the broomy-brushy often half-dead 'Hally Jolivette' flowering cherry bursting out of the top of a stout and glossy birchbark cherry trunk - like a sort of Halloween bouquet inserted into the top of a painted post.
Ravine Park wanders from 33rd to 36th in a deep gulley in the area between Arbutus and Yew streets. It is a bit of semi wilderness in a very urban setting. Among the tall Firs, Hemlocks, Dogwoods, Birch and various Maples and almost buried are a few cherries. I have an old [undated] clipping from the Province which described it as once having had 100 cherry trees. Today there are four of these trees left and there are several new trees planted more recently [possibly 20-30 years ago] when the crossings at 34th and 35th avenues were restructured. Walking south from 33rd the first cherries are two very tall arching and shapely cherries I believe to be Somei-yoshino. Just past the 34th Ave. crossing there is double pink cherry arching out from the steep east ravine wall. This is yet to be identified. Further along on the east side a Shirotae is leaning out almost horizontally. The double pinks are also seen in two places sprouting from trees which have been cut down. The new trees are all double deep pink multi-trunked Kanzans or Pink Perfection found on both sides of the 34th and 35th crossings.
Re: * POSTED - Serrula - Arbutus Ridge, SE corner King Edward at Valley Dr. I've been finding every opportunity I can to get over and see this intriguing tree. Luckily I've met two of the owners in the strata lot where this old denizen lives. And I've been posting in Arbutus Ridge without really understanding that others were as fascinated as I am and wrting about the tree here in Favourites. So, I'm repeating some of my earlier information and adding more photos. Evidnetly there were a pair of Serrulas. One was removed several years ago and its stump, which was cut off at ground level, remains. During the last year, poor Serrula was hit by a car and in spite of it being diseased, it bears only a small scar on its trunk from the impact. Would be interesting to see what it did to the car. The owners were delighted that anyone else would show interest in the tree as they have been successful in their attempts to save it. Someone else in the complex has wanted it removed. I told them what I could from the booklet and they were intrigued and can use this information should it be threatened again. (That of course made me want to tell Wendy and get them signed up as scouts.) They took my phone number and have called to tell me the blossoms' progress. So, I'm adding some of my pictures and hope they're not too repetitve or there are not too many. I've been trying hard to get one of blossoms and bark together. Does anyone know if there any other Serrulas in Vancouver?