I could not see anything left from these trees EXCEPT deep inside the complex there are one or two big trees in full leaf (no blossoms) that are completely sealed off to the public so I am not sure what they are. There are new plantings on site of maple trees and on the street of elm trees. It would be completely amazing if Shirofugen survived the extensive renovation happening at that complex. Nothing to see here this year anyway.
These two old Shirotae are putting on quite the show in the warm sun today. A few blossoms have fallen.
This might be the first photo of the Kanzan on the south side of Seabreeze Walk in the late afternoon shade but they have been there since the Akebono on the north side which get more of the attention as they are the early bloomers.
On Drake & Marinaside there is a couple of Kanzan in blossom and in a private strata courtyard across from Elsie Roy Elementary, a Shirotae is tossing off its blossoms.
The Kanzan by the memorial is still there bordering on the construction fencing but further east on Keefer, there are more Kanzan in bloom.
The big Kanzan that graced the northwest corner of the VAG north plaza (south east corner of Hornby & W Georgia) is now gone as are the plum trees. Watermain replacement project victim.
While many of the cherry trees around the perimeter of this site have been replaced by maple and elm trees, in the tower's central courtyard by the lane shared with the Holy Rosary Cathedral, five Shiro-fugen have been preserved and in full blossom now. Thanks to Wendy for persisting in guiding me to this secret shady spot just across from the Dunsmuir separated bike path at Richards where the last of this type can be seen in the DTBIA. The biggest tree is the centrepiece for depression into which nice flowers descend into it's pit. Note how much changes within a week from a single blossom less than a week ago.
'Shogetsu' time! On April 2, I posted photos of a lovely 'Akebono' planting at 1680 Bayshore Drive. Two days ago, I noticed some white blossoms way in the back of those trees - you can just see them in the background of the first photo of the 'Akebono'. That area is all gated off, but I got close enough along the side to tell that there are at least several nice-looking 'Shogetsu' back there. Of the original four trees near the Bayshore Hotel driveway entrance, one is totally gone and one is totally dead. One is not in great shape, but they are putting on a good show. It's easy enough to imagine in the blossom photo how this cultivar got its name meaning moonlight through pine trees. These photos are another group of 'Shogetsu' along the east side of the building, the first three to the left of the path to the East side door, and the last two are photos I try to take every year of a very fragile-looking duo to the right of the path.
I thought it was way early for the 'Whitcomb' at the head of Denman to have flowers, but I see that it was 25% in bloom by the end of December, 2018. All right then. It's supposed to be a cold wet winter, so I suppose this will not be looking like much come spring.
There was a a big todo in 2012 about the 'Shirotae' trees in front of the Joey Restaurant on Burrard, whether they were being pruned and destroyed to provide a better view to the restaurant from the street. Downtown. That was in posting #114; in posting #119 I posted a photo of them not looking too bad a month later. I'm not sure how long they've been missing, but they are definitely not there any more.
This year's photo seems to be a big improvement, but it's lame enough to qualify. This date means very little. I'm attaching my chart of how useful this date has not been in predicting peak bloom for these cherries. Again, this year, since the festival has no group events, we don't need to care when they bloom. But it's interesting to me to note that an earlier first flower date does not necessarily indicate a longer interval to peak bloom. I can't see that any first flower date is a useful prediction for peak bloom. There are some pink buds starting to show, but they're small, and most buds are still green.
I took these photos for @Willard, can't believe I didn't post them, but I can't find the posting. The 'Whitcomb' at Coal Harbour is in bloom, and there is snow on the mountains in the background. It's not up to her standards, but she's left me here to do her work for her.
Here is another look at these blossoms at the Marinaside seawall a block away from the Yaletown Canada Line station. They are blossoming more slowly than their neighbours along the seawall in Coopers Park but seem to have survived yesterday's windstorm with no ill effects.
Here is the state of the trees at Burrard Station (Art Phillips Park). You can see that there are several areas that give an impression of being in bloom, but over 90 percent are not open yet, and there is not good colour for photos. The young tree off by itself, replacing the one cut down by the Park Board, is, however, in full bloom. Right across Melville Street is a new mural called Wall For Women, by Ola Volo, sponsored by the YWCA. You can read about it at To Break Down the Walls of Violence, We Painted a Wall of Hope | YWCA Metro Vancouver (ywcavan.org).
The David Lam Park Akebono are now in bud with a few trees nicely blossoming maybe for a good display next weekend.
The Emery Barnes Park Akebono blossoms are already falling copiously for one of the trees but all three brighten up the area nicely.
These trees can be viewed from above from the Cambie Bridge pedestrian west side path - sort of a pseudo drone perspective. Survived the big winds and looking nice under calm blue skies today
It looks like the high winds yesterday did not blow off many blossoms and most of the Akebono are in full bloom but many on the east side are still awhile away. Hopefully the drone can capture the 100 trees all in bloom.
The Burrard Station 'Akebono' trees were in bloom yesterday, so that's six days from the posting at Downtown, when I said they were only 10% open. These photos are from today. I kept thinking they were smelling fragrant because there are so many of them. They're not generally considered fragrant, but I suppose a faint fragrance is possible. But I finally found what I think is Osmanthus armatus, quite a bit of it, so maybe that's what I was smelling. This line of 'Akebono' is just a few blocks away, along West Georgia at Bute, at the building that has a permanent installation at the front by Dale Chihuly. Homepage | Chihuly. This really belongs in the West End thread.