Cherry Blossom bloom time at the rose garden in Stanley Park

Would anyone know the date of when these cherry blossoms bloom at the Rose Garden in Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC. From the research I’ve done these would bloom two weeks later then the Akebono in the West End. Giving it a date of April 7-28? Any other information helping me narrow it down would be appreciated. I’m getting married under the Cherry blossoms this Spring in Stanley park and would like to pick Sunday, April 11 or Sunday, April 18?

 

Good evening and welcome to the forum, others will give you a very good idea, but I just wanted to say, "how wonderful to have your wedding ceremony under the Cherry blossom". Congratulations in advance. Lovely to hear good news in these difficult days.

Here in England it's always the second two weeks in April for the blossom. Not that it helps you.

 

Rhonda, I hardly know what to say. That's a lovely idea to be married under cherry blossoms, as long as you don't take the state of the blossoms or the air temperature or possible rain as any omen for what's to come. We did the guided blossom walk one year when it was so cold and rainy that I walked over to the Aquarium and joined so I could get into the tropical area to warm up. The early 'Whitcomb' cherries are half open in the West End; two weeks ago I predicted that they would be fully open last week, and I still can't tell if it will be another week or two weeks or more till they're fully open and we get good colour in the tree photos.

We still don't know whether this will be an early year or normal or late for the mid-season cherries. It's a good thing you didn't have to make this decision a few months ago when it looked like we were headed for a very early year. Some inside info on what March temperatures will do would help!! I would say that figuring out which day will have better weather will serve you better, and you have just as good a chance with that. Around blooming time, what makes the difference in dates between the West End and the Rose Garden is if the temperature in the West End hovers just above 10 C degrees, but it's less than that at the Rose Garden. If the Rose Garden temperature is above 10 degrees, there is not as much difference in the blooming time in the two areas.

We have done the guided walk on the second weekend and the third weekend, usually with open blossoms, but sometimes the second weekend was too early and at least once the third weekend was too late.
If you're too early and trees are still in bud, the colour will be good in photos. If you're too late, there will be petal "snow" on the ground, which looks nice too.

I'm not sure what your research entailed, and you already seem pretty aware of what's going on, but you could go through the West End / Stanley Park | UBC Botanical Garden Forums thread where those cherries have been posted every year. There are 23 pages, but it's all one thread. If you look at the blooming date for those 'Akebono' cherries and compare it to the blooming dates for 'Whitcomb' and 'Accolade' that preceded them, you can see if you can get an idea if there is any correlation between the early cherry dates and the Rose Garden dates. Then guess this year's early cherry dates.

I hope you'll come back to tell us what you decided and how it worked out. And if you do a nice chart with all those blooming dates, you could post that too.

 

Hi Wendy,

Thank you for your warm words and knowledge. Just the type of reply I hoped for to help us choose wedding date. I can't thank you enough as this information is very, very helpful!

All the best, Rhonda

 

I think I should add a concern here. The University of Washington prime viewing site for cherries has clearly posted on their webcam site a notice telling people to stay away this year, as throngs of people make social distancing difficult to maintain.

The VCBF (Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival) has also had a query about picking the right date for a wedding under these trees at the Rose Garden. With indoor gatherings still not permitted, this site at the Lower Rose Garden in Stanley Park might be an even more popular wedding option than it usually is, not to mention a more popular casual outing option.