Whitcombs on Nicola Street north of Beach Avenue are starting to drop some petals. Pink snow in February.
Took another look at the 4 trees north of Barclay on Thurlow Street today. A lot going on here, ...confusing.
I have labelled the trees 1-4, from south to north. One photo of blossoms and one photo of entire tree - for each of the four trees.
Beni-shidare(2) is 'Yae-beni-shidare', which is why it's not open yet, as they are a bit later to bloom, by about a week or so. The ones that are more white I've named ito-zakura, a general name for weeping cherry, as the 'Beni-shidare' cultivar should be really pink. Remember that this thread has 14 pages to this point, so you can Search a cultivar or location to try to find previous postings.
So sad to see the construction fencing erected around the trees Alberni between Burrard & Thurlow; the building owner has permission to cut them down and build a 2 storey retail building there. This plaza is very popular in the summertime as somewhere to enjoy lunch, and is frequently photographed by passers by - yet another shop just doesn't have the same appeal. The 2 pictures are from last Friday (not quite blooming) and yesterday, when the fence went up.
This is Grosvenor Plaza, about which, in the Downtown thread (which technically is not the correct one), I posted a comment that there were no flowers at all on February 23. Someone must have installed an Open button.
Thanks to SarahO for the "Heads Up" on the situation at Grosvenor Plaza. This morning there was black netting over the blue fence, but I noticed a gap in the fence and found the beautiful Akebonos in glorious bloom...sadly for the their last spring.
Here is the 'Beni-shidare' at Alexandra Park. These 'Accolade' trees at the Aquatic Centre are definitely in bloom. I gave the fellow in the photo a chance to post his own photo first. The 'Accolade' trees on Chilco were quite a bit behind them, but they should out by now.
'Accolade' trees on Chilco at Comox at the mini-park are indeed out now, visible from the beach two blocks away. The 'Shirotae' in the mini-park looks just a few days away from opening. On Pendrell east of Chilco, the more white (or grey in this photo) 'Somei-yoshino' is in full bloom; the others are 'Akebono', a few fully open and others just a day or two behind.
Some open flowers on the group of 'Shirotae' on the south side of Georgia between Bute and Jervis, at the Lions. They'll be worth a visit for my Downtown/West End pre-season walk this Saturday, March 12.
"There is no stranger under the cherry tree ..." Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 I have a story. Here are my two new best friends, Maria-Stella and Josie. First I saw Maria-Stella, on the left, who was photographing daffodils, and for some reason that made me decide to photograph the two 'Shirotae' I've always admired near the corner on Comox at Jervis. While I was doing that, Josie came along and started talking effusively about how she loves living here, particularly looking directly out onto these trees, until they're pruned back (gardener thinks that will keep the roots from damaging the building). While she was exclaiming about the beautiful cherries, Maria-Stella came along, who lives next door, so we all introduced ourselves. Maria-Stella has been following the cherries with great delight since she came here from Venezuela four years ago, where it's too warm for these trees, and she is so pleased that they bloomed before she returns home next month. I was sad to hear that she's leaving, as she seemed like exactly the keen cherry scout we'd love to have, and indeed, she got her photos posted even before I posted mine (and even named her photos according to our convention). Maria-Stella's trees in the previous two posts are all 'Akebono'. I think Maria-Stella was actually photographing the bird houses in the traffic circle. That's a 'Takasago' in the background. Here is a young 'Shirotae' street tree. I don't think these make good street trees - they're particularly nice when they're allowed to spread (and when they're not grafted and start branching low), and they're prone to trouble when they're pruned. This 'Takasago' is at Comox and Broughton. These have appeared here several times. There are two or three per block from Thurlow to Stanley Park. It's impossible to photograph these stunning flowers without getting evidence of all the brown rot in the photos.
Speaking of pruned 'Shirotae' not doing very well, these trees at the Sutton Place Hotel on Burrard near Robson used to be festival favourites. I have just demoted them. This pruning is particularly unattractive. Note the one 'Ukon' among them, almost ready to bloom. It's quite a bit earlier than the 'Ukon' a few blocks away.
'Rancho' on Davie are in bloom now, though they're not very colourful, so I didn't bother to photograph the trees. Maybe I missed the peak and they're more dull with the leaves appearing. The two or three 'Schnee' sweet cherry cultivar trees next to Hamburger Mary's at Bute are gone. They're the only ones of that cultivar we've ever identified, if I remember correctly.