We've missed the boat on Colt at the NW corner of W. 8th and Arbutus. Already done for the year at March 28, 2020.
The two Akebono trees on W. 7th, west of Maple, across the street from St. Augustine's Parish Centre (2028 W. 7) look like a single entity from this angle. Opening on March 28, 2020.
on the way home from work last night, saw 3 beautiful trees in McBride Park. as usual I wasn't sure which was which but felt the 2 on the west side of the park were lighter in colour than the shorter one that was close to the field house. The neighborhood maps shows the 2 which are lighter are 'Somei Yoshino', and the one by the field house is 'Akebono'. Here is the pics of the 'Somei Yoshino'. you can maybe see some nobs along the branches of the out of focus pic. And the pedicles of the flower (part where the stem joins the flower) are a bit hairy.
and here is some pics of the 'Akebono' that is pinker and closer to the field house. the pedicles do look a bit smoother, and i don't really see the nobs on branches on this one... and i think i do see one of those extra staminoids (extra petal) in one of the close ups... the petals also tend to overlap more compared to the 'Somei Yoshino' in the previous entry.
continuing my drive home i saw this great tunnel of pink so had to turn around and check them out. Balaclava between 5th and 6th. 'Afterglow', brighter pink, is on the west side of the street and 'Akebono' , different ages, are on the east side of the street. Here are the 'Afterglow'. they are suppose to be more horizontal, the ones towards 6th are but the 2 towards 5th are a bit more upright. definitely a much brighter pink, and gaps between the petals and some of the flowers are bursting from the trunk itself. also some of the bright fresh green of the new growth of the leaves is starting. The very last pic the 'Afterglow' are on the left (looking north from 6th) the 2nd to last the 'Afterglow' are on the right (looking south from 5th).
and now the 'Akebono' s. this first one in this row, is a middle age? or young tree and i couldn't get a good shot of the flowers on the tree, but there were some individuals on the ground already..intact. the view looking south from 5th, 'Akebono' on the left side.
the next 'Akebono' is midway in the block and seems to be better shaped, maybe a younger tree or maybe the gardener is caring for it. there were lots of other plants close to it. very pink, but more of a shell pink, cloud like and full of flowers. on the close up of one of them i think i see one of the staminoids (extra petal) and again a lot more overlap of the petals.
and the last 'Akebono' on this block at the corner on 6th, north west corner. it has been pruned badly due to the overhead wires, but still bursting forth with lots and lots of pink. i am wondering if i see those nobs on the branches??? Could it be a 'Somei Yoshino'??? but the flowers have more overlap. i can't find any of those extra petals...not able to get close enough once again :(
No, it's 'Akebono'. I maintain that only one in 100 flowers have the extra petaloid. I commented somewhere that 'Somei-yoshino' branches seem thicker, coarser, with a lot of knobby bits, whereas 'Akebono' branches seem more slender, delicate, not so many dense knobby nodes. I'm not sure it's quantifiable.
a beautiful 'Shirotae' along the bike route 1st and Burrard, in the Seaforth Peace Park. South corner of the park, just west of the bike path that cuts diagonally through the park. Beautiful double white flower, very serrated edges to the new bright green leaf. and I thought a bit of a fragrance as we stopped to admire the blossoms.
Kate Gerson sent along some photos, thinks I should post them and put them on the map. My persuasive skills seem to have disappeared, so here they are. The first group are all 'Akebono'. The nicest one is between Bayswater and Balaclava. These are at 2nd and Balsam, Macdonald south of 1st, and the last one is on 1st, south side east of Macdonald. The 'Tai-haku' are in bloom in the park at Macdonald and 1st, where the older trees are 'Ukon'.
I guess I have to consider Kate my photographer. She has sent these along from yesterday, 'Akebono', 3 of them along Vine up to the corner of 1st, and then a whole row along 1st Ave. along the whole block, which I will add to the map. It's a green area, belongs to the building next to it - because of work on that building, the city made them protect the trees that seem very safely far away. I can't tell if these are street trees or city-planted trees - the city does do some plantings on private property. Here's the Google street view: Google Maps
Kate continued west on 1st from Vine to Balsam. Here are the two 'Beni-shidare' on 1st between Balsam and Larch, south side. And a big old 'Akebono' on Trafalgar, west side north of 1st.
the 'Tai Haku' are in bloom at Seaforth Peace park accross from the armories. Poor pics as we were riding home at dusk, but the large, single white flowers are certainly noticeable.
Two Shogetsu trees on west side of Maple, W12-15, in bloom at April 19, 2020. Wendy considers one a runt, and the other more majestic, but I can hear the runt's retort to Wendy's disparagement: we shorties can put out a product just as fine.
Somewhat overshadowed by Shogetsu's early show on the same side of their street, the six Kiku-zakura trees are opening on the west side of Maple and W. 12th southward at April 19. 2020.
The Maritime Museum added 3 baby 'shirofugen' in front of the museum and named them "Hope", "Faith" and "Love". Only budding, not blooming yet.
Kate Gerson has sent these photos from the mini-park east of Trutch between Point Grey Road and 1st Avenue. This lone 'Kanzan' looks so lovely at Waterloo, two blocks over from the trees above.
Thanks to @Josie NewWest for reminding me of this group of three 'Autumnalis Rosea' on 1st Avenue just west of Cypress. I was pretty impressed with them until I got closer and reverted to my "why do people plant these?" feelings about them.
Linda Poole, the VCBF Artistic Director, sent me this photo of the 'Whitcomb' cherries on 1st Avenue at Balsam. She wrote: "Look at the beauty I noticed on my way home this afternoon!!"