Sunshine Coast/Gulf Islands

As far as I understand - one of the prize honours is to have Christopher Gaze read your poetic works — he is a British Vancouverite who is a Shakespearean actor and is well known for popular Bard on the Beach - and “tea & trumpets » with Vanc Symphony Orch.

So please do enter your two haiku before I write a limerick

And now back to Sunshine Coast blossom topic - i need to go and pick up pet food (priority shopping!) so I will see if any blossoms our star lead blossom scout Willard has not yet documented :)

 

@Willard

Hello Willard - I am curious so I looked this type up online

I notice it is nicknamed « flagpole »

Referring to very upright tight habit (as amateur me describes it)

So I am confused when homeowner in your conversation related above describes their preference for umbrella shape - does that mean this tree would have had to have been trained to make umbrella (weeping) branches?

With due respect to spouse passed on - would one not start with a tree meant to be umbrella (Weeping) vs this type that seems to be a very tight upright tree?

Just curious - I don’t know this homeowner or tree personally

 

'Poetic works', I don't think he will be reading mine then, lol. But this is all good fun and it's nice to be a part of it.

 

@wcutler and @Georgia Strait, I've just entered the Haiku competition, never done anything like this before, so it was fun to try something new, even at my age.
It said winners announced in September. So I will be watching out for the email, lol.
Good luck to the both of you for your entries.

D

 

Some photos while we were still using @Margot weather forecast in the Virtual Garden Tour thread around April 08/21 (thankfully we are rainforest (fresh water from the sky) today

I hope I can post these pix in proper order

And - a side note - if you want to meet people of all interests - just take pix of random trees! I met quite a few people wondering what I was doing (on a Public road so all legal) and they said - oh - I live right next door and I have never noticed the blossoms - thank you!
And off they went with new appreciation for nature and spring (and to Willard too who had sparked my curiosity about blossoms)

First 3 are a group on a private driveway off North Rd Gibsons. Often there are Mallard Duck married couples nesting in the nice clean swampy area here - I like how the « ice cream pink white
colors go together

———
Next are some trees with best view in the entire festival - even on a grey cloud day overlooking Howe Sound ocean toward the sunrise east (Britannia Range mtns)

Again on a side road off North.

Got a wave fr someone else admiring blossoms

I notice how some of the blossoms are very pink ornate — and others which seem to be in same tree roots are the old fashioned white simple petal formation

——
The rain now might make some blossoms go in to « wet Kleenex appearance » - tho there are a few wild volunteer Apple trees yet to bloom
to keep local blossom fans happy :)

 

I need to clarify photos above
The one immediately below the driveway photo is the dual pink white color

The pink blossom is VERY frilly
The white is classic simple blossom and these two appear to be off same tree stump — there are several trees in a row that appear to have graft issues

The other two (Kanzan?) are near the mailboxes

 

On the back cover of Ornamental Cherries – 2014 Edition - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca) - "There is no stranger under the cherry tree ..."



The white flowers are sweet cherry, Prunus avium.
Another tree that is not a cherry | UBC Botanical Garden Forums

 

This ‘Ama-no-gawa’ At Marina Place on Trueman Rd has an unusual growth habit. From a distance looks bushy, not upright. Had to take a closer look.

 

‘Kanzan’ on Oceanview Drive in Gibsons are blooming now. At least 35 mature trees.



This one bigger than the house.

 

Someone really likes 'Ama-no-gawa' at 361 Harry Rd in Gibsons. Three trees on the street and at least 5 in sunken garden. Impressive.

 

Yes, this is a confusing tree. Owner is friendly and very proud of her garden. Even gave me a nosegay.
But she really wanted an umbrella-shaped cherry tree, and I don’t think she understands ‘Ama-no-gawa’

 

Lol.

 

Nice planting of thirteen ‘Shiro-fugen’ at Sechelt Visitor Centre.

No visitors, though. Closed due to pandemic.

 

Hello @Willard

I looked for a final hurrah as they say

In Langdale — one impressive elderly thick stump on the LEFT (school) side of Port Mellon Hwy - before YMCA road - 2nd house painted dark grey I think

Then I think the last show is at IGA / Starbucks in Gibsons

Which “mall trees” are they ?

I looked closely and they are so frilly and “petally” (ie lots of fluffy petals)

The trees are max 14 feet tall — and certainly show that 6 foot trunk graft

Really beautiful esp if you catch a photo with the snow on Mt Elphinstone

Good night

 

—-
Hello Willard - just trying to learn the blossom names - I don’t understand the term (and I did ask “dr google!”)

“ama-no-gawa”

And how it relates to umbrella shape

(Asked with due respect to owner and late spouse person)

 

Last show at IGA/Starbucks in Gibsons is 'Kanzan'. Lots of 'em.

 

‘Ama-no-gawa’ (heaven’s river). This Sato-zakura (Japanese village cherry) dates from the late 19th century and is one of the most immediately recognizable of all cherries because of its characteristic narrow crown of strongly erect branches and its fragrant, often upward facing flowers. These fully double, apple-blossom flowers are borne profusely, usually in late April to early May. The best specimens are always found growing in open situations with good air circulation. In the West, ‘Ama-no-gawa’ is known as the pillar cherry.

I have never seen an umbrella shaped 'Ama-no-gawa' in my life. Usually very tall and skinny.
That one on 'O-Shea' is very strange, indeed.

 

I highly recommend our book: Ornamental Cherries – 2014 Edition - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca), being sold as a download from Ornamental Cherries – 2014 Edition - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca).

Just because you haven't seen it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Check out Douglas Justice's photo of the ones at the Mt Vernon library: Identification: - Amanogawa - pale pink doubles, green leaves, mid-season.
And then in the same thread, scroll down a bit for the "unsurpassed" one Ron B mentioned at the Washeli Cemetery in Seattle. Maybe next year, a day trip to north Seattle, later than U. of W. time?

 

I have seen bushy-shaped ‘Ama-no-gawa’ trees here in Gibsons at Marina Place on Trueman Rd, and the odd one on O-Shea which looks like a candelabra.
Still waiting to see the fountain or umbrella shaped trees.

 

Oh, I was thinking umbrella just meant wide.

 

I've been thinking about this 'Ama-no-gawa' on O-Shea Rd.
Owner really had her heart set on an umbrella-shaped tree. Looks like her late husband may have tried to train the tree to grow that way. Branches look like they were 'tampered' with.
After he passed away, the tree decided to reach for the sky. Might explain the candelabra shape.


Photographs from April 21, 2021.

 

It is strange some shapes after they have been pruned wrongly. This is very much a Medusa cherry now !!

 

LOL

 

Yes in viewing your photos @Willard - I can see how the umbrella or weeping might have been initiated

Then went sideways - or more correctly upways Oh dear.
——-

In all seriousness - the TREE at the Legion 109 Cairn - is that the ideal natural COMPACT weeping umbrella type? (Insert name ____)

Are there other trees around Gibsons that naturally make that weeping bubble umbrella shape - it seems to me you posted a photo a few weeks ago about a white tree in Roberts Creek - i think you said one of your fav on our mainland Coast.

 

Attractive quintet of columnar ‘Ama-no-gawa’ on private driveway on Inglis Rd, east of Shaw Rd.

Still fragrant, even from the road.