Mature Shosar Our cherry scout, Sue Wagner, has posted shosar when blooming starts. However, these five shosars do bloom in different periods. One is so slow, with few flowers attached. Weird.
Spire is Retired It might be too warm this spring. The Spire has its flower over the peak, earlier than last year. However the spire in the Livingstone Place has been trimmed into a single trunk. Possibly it is the reason why.
Akebono is on the way The first wave of cherry blossom season is coming. Akebono is the most widely variety planted around Richmond. The hot spot is located around aquatic centre, which is attracting many flower lovers taking photos now. Other spots you might interest in are Caring Place, North section of No.1 Road and Garry's Point. Akebono planted at Garry's Point is still young but has hundred of it, acting like a sea of flowers.
Somei-yoshino Although we regret that two beautiful somei-yoshino cherry trees on the central isle of Minoru Blvd have been chopped off(or moved away?), there are another two in Richmond stlll going well. One is located near the Chapel in Minoru Park, the other at the parking lot of The Bay. locating on the sidewalk of Westminster Highway.
I think that this tree is 'Colt', not 'Spire'. Stamens are too numerous and long, and the calyx tube is constricted the way 'Colt' is, and that is not the case on the photos we have of 'Spire'. Is it fragrant? 'Colt' trees are quite fragrant. Do a search in Kitsilano and particularly in White Rock / South Surrey for several examples, and in Ornamental Cherries for the one at 8th and Arbutus. 'Colt' is not in our book - not ornamental enough, I guess, though Nadia and I are quite taken with it. Actually, I think the story was that it's used as rootstock, was not supposed to show up as a tree on its own.
Nadia was in the area and found these trees and recognized them as 'Colt'. She's our 'Colt' expert, as they seem to be a big thing in White Rock and South Surrey and she recognized the fragrance. Now that I've seen so many of her postings, I can agree with her on these. They differ from Spire in the calyx shape and fragrance, and presumably lack of sticky buds. Also lack of disease and lack of ugly grafting. I wonder if the "mixed" planting came about because the 'Amanogawa' were grafted onto 'Colt' and these two trees also started as that cultivar. Or maybe someone thought they were all the same. [Edited]Oh, I see Nadia has posted these, two before this posting.
O-yama-zakura The O-yama-zakura cherry located at 6231 Azure Road, Richmond has been in blossom for a while. It is obviously earlier than last year.
Shirotae is in blossoms Shitotae has started to blossom now. You may find many locations where early flowers are starting up in Richmond, such as Dorchester Circle, Minoru Park, Fairchild Square and Senior Residence on Minonu blvd. Warm weather has led to early blooming this year.
Yae-beni-shidare Two Yae-beni-shidare trees in the chapel courtyard of Minoru Park are blooming now. They are in good shape and very nice to look at. Enjoy!
How sweet are these swings decorated with 'Akebono' flowers, and what a lovely location - it's a playground area at the Thomas Dodd School on the west side of Shell Road north of Steveston Hwy. There are around eight big old trees and a few younger ones. There are also about five later-blooming trees, maybe 'Kanzan'. We haven't seen the planting on Grant McConachie Way for a few years. The trees might have looked reasonably spaced when they were planted, but I think they would look better with a little more space between them.
An unknown person submitted this photo to our map, at Minoru Gate. I think this location is the same as the second photo in posting #184. This location is already on the map.
This whole area can also be seen in Google maps but the latest night photo nicely highlights the Minoru running track as a placemark to view these blossoms.
I'm adding in the Korean Hill Cherries at 7251 Minoru Boulevard which today were just past their peak in that lovely time when the petals are falling but not bruised by the rain. The other Korean Hill Cherry I've looked at in the West End is well and truly over its blooming for this year
Douglas Justice told me about the long row of 'Shiro-fugen' trees that one sees when driving on Knight Street south of the Cambie overpass. They're on the east side. I'd forgot all about those - I'd seen them in previous years, only as I was driving south, always wondered how you'd get to them. Knight street is limited access freeway in this section, and there is a ditch that separates it from the buildings. Well, I found the trees, thanks to google street view, which showed me the trees in bloom last week (and the link I saved still does that) but does not show them in bloom for me now. They are off Viking Way - I turned right into the last parking area at the official end of the road. The address seems to be 4611 Viking Way. One of the trees in the row is 'Akebono'. If you continue past the end of Viking Way and take the next right, that's shown as Mayfield Place on the map. We just walked through the hedge to get there, and found a couple more 'Shiro-fugen' in the parking lot, and one 'Shogetsu'. There are also a few early blooming trees that I can't identify. There are also cherries on the west side of Knight Street. Someone else will have to do those.
On the way to the great 'Shirofugen' location in the previous posting, we passed Crestwood Place, nicely planted with 'Kanzan', one of which was particularly attractive. There are also small groups of 'Kanzan' on the east side of Viking Way, this one at 4320 Viking Way.
At my request, Janice Lake has sent along photos of the trees that were not yet in bloom in posting 265, at the Thomas Dodd School on Shell Road north of Steveston Hwy. They are 'Kanzan', but not in good shape, having quite a bit of rootstock growth. One of the trees has almost gone over to the avium side.
Kanzan cherries on Edwards Dr from Sandman Hotel to Holiday Inn Hotel Trees look different, some are darker than others, some are lighter, I thought 10 days ago some of them Pink perfection but I don't think so any more