I was planning to post some photos of 'Shirotae' in bloom, to gloat over beating out Seattle on getting this cultivar going. But when got up to this tree I'd spotted, it turned out to not be 'Shirotae' at all, but 'Tai Haku'. Well, it's certainly not fully in bloom, but plenty enough flowers to see it halfway down the block. We're just getting out our early-April bloomers - 'Tai Haku' usually follows those in mid-April. I was not expecting to see this cultivar today at all. This single tree is outside the Bosman's Hotel at 1060 Howe between Nelson and Helmcken. Here are six 'Shirotae' outside the old Hydro building on Nelson at Burrard, now a condo called Electra. They're maybe 50% in bloom, but a few blossoms make a very effective display on these trees. Unlike with 'Rancho', on which it's hard to tell if they're blooming or not. These are on Davie east of Burrard, so in the Downtown neighbourhood.
The Shirotae are still in bloom at 820 Burrard. Across the street at the Sutton Place Hotel are some lovely Shirotae in full bloom. Note the red stamens. The cherry trees in the plaza west of the Guiness Building at 1055 Hastings are just finishing.
While waiting for the bus at Richards and Robson I noticed a large cherry tree that had two types of cherries grafted on the rootstalk. The graft was very low, almost to the ground. I didn't have my camera, but was able to pick a few buds and transport them in my eyeglass case. So here they are. I thought the first one is an Atsumori. It was the smaller graft. At first I barely noticed the pink blossoms. I didn't find any leaves. The white 5 petaled flowers represented most of the tree. The emerging leaves were bright green. There were numerous buds. Wendy has identified it as an Avium.
The white is the avium rootstock that the pink one was grafted onto, doing its best to take over. You'll see a lot of that with 'Kanzan' (Nelson east of Denman? - I forget exactly) The sepals of the pink one remind me of 'Atsumori'. Are the flowers under an inch in diameter? See Atsumori - double pink mid-season, small.
The pink blossom does resemble your Asumori, so I renamed it. as for the white blossom I wonder. The scout handbook describes the flower as being double whereas these are single with 5 petals. Although, the sepals are recurved.
The white blossom in the book is avium 'Plena', a fancy double-blossomed cultivar of the single-blossomed avium. I'll have to go see what's going on down there at Richards and Robson. We had an 'Accolade' reported there February 17, but it wouldn't still be in bloom, and the sepals look different. If an 'Atsumori', that would be exciting, as we only know of two others so far.
Oh, okay, that makes sense. How exciting about the Atsumori. It's right behind the bus stop bench. I didn't have a lot of time to check it out.
Actually, it's the 'Accolade' that Anne photographed in posting #57. That one blossom's sepals look different from all the others, and the flowers are a lot larger than 'Atsumori'. It's amazing that there are any blossoms still on the tree. I have to say that the avium part, pictured here, looks a lot better than the 'Accolade' part did when it was in bloom in February. In the third photo, the 'Accolade' trunks are the two in front. Across the street, there's a fine-looking 'Kanzan' already pretty much in full bloom. I hate to post a photo of a single Kanzan when really, we don't need photos that show any fewer than 10 of them, but this seemed particularly early and particularly nice.
The 'Pink Perfection' in the courtyard at 1500 Howe are in full bloom, and the ones in the lane behind the building are getting there. In the mix at the lane behind the building are two 'Kanzan'. Here's one that's about the same size as the 'Pink Perfection' trees, with its blossoms. The third photo below shows the other 'Kanzan' in the foreground, with one of the 'Pink Perfection' in the background, and the fourth photo are the blossoms from that 'Pink Perfection', showing the "blobs of flowers with bare spaces between" that Ron B mentioned in his posting in the Kanzan vs. Pink Perfection thread in Cultivar IDs. In his reply to that posting, Douglas Justice called 'Pink Perfection' "Sublimely beautiful flowers on an ugly tree". I'm always reminded of that when I see them.
This allée with its canopy of 'Kanzan' looks so alluring when I drive by that I had to come down here and walk through it. It seems to be called Beatty Walk, across Nelson from Beatty St.
Another allee with a line of 'Kanzan' in a small park setting at Drake and Marinaside. I'm sure this was privately built, but there aren't any "keep out" signs, so I think it's probably a mandated public area.
This 'Whitcomb' at the head, I think it is, of Denman at Coal Harbour is pretty much in bloom. I didn't notice anyone else getting excited about it, but it's definitely pink and there are at least half the blossoms open. It looked better in Anne's pictures from 2008, but I don't think this is going to be a good 'Whitcomb' year - too big a gap between the early blossoms and late ones on a single tree.
Re: Downtown - the first Akebono blossoms of 2011 Sorry about this, but a tradition is a tradition. First precocious 'Akebono' blossoms at Burrard Station. Last year it was only two weeks from the first photo to full bloom, but this year, the 25-30 day rule should hold. That's way too late for my downtown cherry walk on March 26 and the Cherry Jam on March 31; and possibly too early for an Easter Parade walk. There's no winning this year. Almost all the buds look like those in the second photo. Maybe they'll give an impression of pink for the Cherry Jam.
Burrard Skytrain Station 'Akebono' are in bloom - in time for today's Cherry Jam, the festival's opening event, held there every year in the rain usually without blossoms to even cheer us up. But this year, the sun was shining and we weren't even freezing. How great was that! The Carnival Band was the perfect opener, and the rest of the music was excellent too. My predictions in the previous posting were entirely wrong - only two weeks from those first open flowers until almost full bloom. We did win this year in all respects - I rescheduled my downtown walk to next Wednesday afternoon. Those pesky plums will be out of the way around here by then too.
Re: Downtown - links to Cherry Jam at Burrard Station photos Here's a link to more photos from the Cherry Jam event at Burrard Station - mine are there now and I think Joseph Lin will be adding some. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vcbf/sets/72157604322589307/ The Carnival Band had someone taking photos for them, and they've sent us a link to those photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35698624@N07/sets/72157626401961392/
Well, blow me down. Four rather young Schmitt Cherries at False Creek across from Granville Island. I first noticed this lone one, just west of the turnaround at the foot of Hornby. Then, east of the turnaround, opposite these 'Akebono' that have only ever been reported in posting #15 in 2008, but which I've seen many times a week since then, I finally after three years noticed the six trees in the second photo. It turns out three of them are also Schmitt Cherries. I have no idea what the other three are (fourth photo here), but they're coming soon. [edited July 27, 2011: the others are 'Kanzan') This row of 'Akebono' are along the seawall just west (south?) of the Aquabus ramp at Yaletown.
I thought I'd posted this 'Snofozam' one year, but I don't see it. It's just between the row of 'Akebono', Schmitt Cherries and whatever in the previous posting, and the Aquabus dock. [Edited 2017Apr1]: this tree is gone now. No fooling.
All right! We had this entered to our map by Dmitriy, and it's a great location, except that being on the west side of Main Street puts it in this Downtown neighbourhood, in competition with the Burrard Station trees. Well, it's really nice AND if offers a comparison of 'Somei-yoshino' and 'Akebono'. It's on Main Street, west side, north of Terminal, in a garden area belonging to a condo complex. I noticed as I was driving away on National that mid-block between Quebec and Main, there was another grouping of 'Akebono' (I think). Someone else can check how big the planting is at that location. It's quite a large park area. 'Akebono' on the left, 'Somei-yoshino' on the right; the second and third photos are the 'Somei-yoshino' 'Akebono' Across Terminal to the south is this group of three 'Akebono' planted about 2M apart, but they seem to be doing fine.
Here is an add-on note to Wendy's last post. I was driving by Main & National (one block north of Terminal) last Saturday (April 2, 2011) when I came across a group of beautiful Akebonos (about 85% bloomed) on the north side of National. On the south side, I spotted 2 more Akebonos on the second-floor private garden area. I wished I were at Main & Terminal so I could've checked out BOTH the Akebonos and Somei-yoshino side-by-side...
Here are the 'Rancho' on Bayshore Drive, but this year seen looking south from the seawall. If they're grafted, it's down low. They look better than any other 'Rancho' I've seen, probably because they're protected from trucks and bikes and lots of other tree hazards. 'Shirotae' on the east side of the Westin Bayshore, and looking out at them from inside the hotel. The second photo looks like one I posted last year, but that posting showed the 'Shogetsu' at this location. I was inclined to give the people who selected these the benefit of the doubt and figure they meant to plant the two cultivars so that they'd have something in bloom for a longer period. Douglas Justice, however, on today's walk at UBC, opined that the chances are very high that it's a mistake, and that in this kind of planting, the intention was very likely that they be all the same. A bit west of the Bayshore is this Accolade, in the centre, still with blossoms, flanked by 'Akebono'.
Catching up - these 'Akebono' should be just about finished now, at the head of Hornby St in the plaza leading up to Canada Place. The third photo was taken at the plaza at the head of Granville at Cordova. Burrard Station is about finished too, but the 'Akebono' snow creates a certain atmosphere. This seemed like a new discovery, but maybe not - five young 'Rancho' outside the Tourism BC office. These 'Akebono' are in the same development as the 'Rancho' seen in the first photo in posting #97, between Bayshore Drive and the Coal Harbour seawall.