This is a timely posting: the sale is at the BCIT Burnaby Campus (east of the SE16 building) this Friday, April 29, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., or until all the trees are sold. The sub-heading is: The seedlings are the result of a 6-year UBC/BCIT program to save varieties at risk of disappearing The article says that the 12 - 20 inch seedlings (they're clones, not seedlings) are 'Ojochin', 'Ito-kukuri', 'Fudan-zakura', and another one called 'Pink Perfection'. There are conditions attached to the purchase of these plants. See the article at Rare Japanese flowering cherry trees to be sold at BCIT The article comes with the requisite (for the media) photo of a street of plums. None of these cherries will grow to look like the trees on the street in that photo. I'm attaching some photos of the blossoms of these cultivars. Photos are 'Fudan-zakura' by Anne Eng, 'Ojochin' by me, 'Pink Perfection' by Shirley Willard and 'Ito-kukuri' by Douglas Justice.
I heard from two people who arrived before 2:30 (one at 2:15) that the plants were all sold out by the time those people arrived. The CBC article reported Keith Turner as saying that this was a one-shot deal, would not be done again. It would be nice if it could be determined if this really is a better way to grow these trees, and if it is, get it going commercially.
Ito Kukuri Hi there.. I was one of the last lucky few who did get one of these BCIT trees, an Ito Kukuri. I've been searching the web to find out how big this tree will grow and any specific care needed, but I've had no luck in finding any more information than was provided at the sale. I'm a novice gardener, and this is my first cherry tree.
Congratulations on your purchase! I'm not sure we know how big an 'Ito-kukuri' grown on its own roots will get. You can do a Search on this site (box at upper right) to see examples of grafted ones around here. I would think your tree, not grafted onto such a hefty rootstock, would not get as large. I hope you'll post yearly status photos!
I was working that day so I sent my husband down to try and get one; he showed up at 1:15 and there were already 6 people in line. By 1:30 there were about 100 people and they were restricting the quantities to 5 per person. By 2PM there were hundreds of people in line and the restriction dropped to 2 per person. My husband was able to purchase one 'Fudan-zakura' for me, which is exactly what I wanted.....I understand that it is a "smaller" tree but then small is a relative term. The tree was about 24" tall and very healthy.
I'm very interested to see that, hope you'll be posting it. The only ones we know are old grafted trees, not in very good shape, but still with lots of flowers very early in the season.
'Fudan-zakura' I planted it in a large pot for this year, this will allow me to move it to a sheltered area if the weather requires. Next spring it will be moved into a raised bed.
