The Akebono grove at David Lam Park in Yaletown are blossoming on the west side with the east side (and nearby Helmcken Park) emerging nicely too (but later).
Temperatures have dropped to highs of low teens (celsius). Still, there was a big change in the appearance of the Burrard Station 'Akebono' trees. People have started to photograph them. I thought they were farther along when I was there yesterday than what I am seeing in my photos. The overall impression is that they are well underway. I would expect them to be impressively open by this weekend. The young replacement tree on the lawn area has the most open flowers. The magnolias at Burrard Station (which is really named Art Phillips Park) are not yet open, but the red maples are - they are the deep red bits, particularly at the upper left, of this photo. Shirley Willard sent along links to the info about the U. of Washington trees in Seattle. They are 'Somei-yoshino', slightly earlier bloomers than 'Akebono', and it is slightly warmer there than here, so I was surprised to read that they are only 25% open and are expect to be in bloom this weekend, which is what I think is the case for our Art Phillips Park trees. Iconic UW cherry blossoms expected to fully bloom this weekend! and the webcam: You can spend all day watching them open. Why don't we spend our money on important stuff like this?
The old akebono trees in the Yaletown House private yard by Helmcken Park (1 block east of the Roundhouse Canada Line station) are starting to blossom. To hear the happy birds welcoming the blossoms, a video is here:
This row of akebono's outside the townhomes on the Yaletown seawall get viewed by hordes of walkers, runners, cyclists, boaters etc. Last week they were getting pruned and now they are starting to blossom. The sun over the next few days could produce quite an explosion of blossoms (and nice photos). Here are some views today from various vantage points on the seawall (previous years photos at 275, 232, 206, 172, 146)
This row of Akebono's is a block from CBC Vancouver and were featured in yesterdays online article about plums vs cherries: Cherry blossoms get the love but can you identify them? | CBC News
Wow, that certainly is news when a newspaper publishes something about the plums. Good for David Tracey (and you, yaletowner, for the link).
Big change from two days ago at Burrard Station. The 'Akebono' are open. So they will be past their prime a week from now for the festival opening, but a carpet of petals will still be nice. Somewhere above I commented that the buds were pale, were not giving an overall impression of pink that they usually do, and that the buds on the trees in the West End are showing. The flowers have opened very white. Usually I look for clusters of pink and white for blossom photos, but I didn't find any. There was one tree with leaves opening with the flowers. Nothing else about the tree looks different from the others - it seems to have been grafted the same way (not that I thought to photograph that, but I did look). Still, I guess I already have to stop telling people that the trees with leaves are plums.
The Akebono's reported previously near the CBC on Hamilton, at David Lam Park and on the Yaletown seawall are now further into bloom and in fine shape for what looks to be clear, sunny viewing on the weekend. A lot of the east side of David Lam Park however is still budding so it may be another week before there will be good viewing there. Lots to see though on the west side.
Nice day for cycling along the seawall to view the fully blossoming young row of Akebono's along the Coal Harbour seawall and the three at Coopers Park (with the magnolia nearby also in bloom)
Lots of young akebono in full bloom at Coal Harbour including Lot 19 parklet at the north end of Hornby between W Hastings and Cordova and along West Hastings between Broughton and Jervis. There is a townhome row of newly planted Akebonos to monitor in future years but they are not yet looking so impressive yet. David Lam Park east side has blossoms earlier than I thought and the Yaletown House akebonos have many petals falling with many buds yet to bloom. Meanwhile the Shirotae in the adjacent Helmcken Park are also starting to blossom but will wait a few days to photo - maybe after the Capture Photography Festival launch on Wednesday and Cherry Jam on Thursday. Interesting that Washington DC is at peak bloom now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...his-week-thanks-favorable-weather-conditions/.
The old shirotae in Helmcken Park have not done well with the deep freeze the past winter and the extended drought with forest fire smoke last summer. It is doing its best with a few nice blossoms as well as some green leaves but many of the branches appear lifeless and the rest are pretty sparse. 7 years ago (post 129), they looked spectacular. Parks board employees tending the park do not look particularly optimistic. Meanwhile the two big akebonos in the Yaletown House yard nearby are putting on a great display of blossoms with petals falling and a few buds yet to open. On the sidewalk near the street, one of the two akebonos just planted in 2014 (see post 176) looks good as well but it's companion around the corner is struggling.
Here is another 'Shirotae' and 'Rancho' posting. The first two were drive-bys - 'Shirotae' at the Electra building on Nelson at Burrard, and a block east on Nelson across the street, in the plaza in front of Honolulu Coffee. The 'Rancho' trees on Davie are in bloom now. This was my view from Dosa + Curry Restaurant tonight.
The akebono blossoms at Emery Barnes park are nice now while the shirotae blossoms in the yard just west off Helmcken Park are looking much nicer than those actually in the park (noted previously).
Akebono are in full bloom right now everywhere in downtown Vancouver. Downtown walk under Akebono blossoms - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival
I only seem to catch these 'Akebono' at a condo relecting pool on Bayshore Drive before peak bloom or after. After is nice. Here's the scene with shimmering petals. 20190406_BayshoreDr_Akebono_Cutler_151055 by wcutler posted Apr 8, 2019 at 12:17 PM When the video fills the screen, only the petals in the water appear shimmering (petals should shimmer - the whole screen should not). I was going to write instructions, but it worked differently both times I did it. Once there was an expand button at the bottom right, which I clicked again to return. The second time, I had to double click the video and click Esc to return.
So here it is 5 years later and four of the old Ukon are in full bloom now but the Kanzen is still in bud. The first two photos show a big new double tower to the east of the red ring. Three of the old ukon are now cut down as the 5th photo shows. Those small ukon did look quite nice at one time (see post 129).
Well those Helmcken Park shirotae are proving me wrong and are blossoming very nicely today. These 3 trees on the park mound are joined by another 14 on the private yard side of the fence that are the ones shown in the earlier photo. There is a concrete barrier but I suspect the root systems of the 17 trees have managed to connect under the barrier so that they form an integrated community of trees that can keep each other healthy. The view from the public park as shown is somewhat obscured by other large trees but there is good access to the blossoms themselves there. The Beatty Walk kanzan row is starting to blossom and should be looking quite nice for those walking to and from the Sun Run (Sunday) and participant only package pickup expo (Fri & Sat) at BC Place through Yaletown.
Davie St between Homer and Seymour has many "pink perfection" trees looking very nice in full blossom. The kanzan in the area are starting to blossom. The akebono by Choices, in Emery Barnes park and basically everywhere in Yaletoown are now done.
I'm glad you put that in quotes, but people may not get the reference. There were four 'Pink Perfection' trees outside Choices for a while, but they are gone now. The city's tree map indicates that 'Pink Perfection' is the 4th most common street tree cherry in Vancouver, but all those trees are 'Kanzan'. The one 'Pink Perfection' street tree is in Kitsilano and is not on the city's map.
The Beatty Mews kanzans are in full bloom for the Sun Run crowd that endured the hailstorm this morning. Those big hailstones knocked down quite a few blossoms as well.
Well, you know the VCBF has declared this year's season over. But if you're really missing the blossoms, here is one 'Shiro-fugen' location that still looks remarkably good - a little pocket park just to the east of 1239 West Georgia. The ground is pink (you might think 'Kanzan' pink), and all the withered flowers have fallen, leaving almost all still nice-looking flowers on two or three of the trees. There are two 'Shogetsu' trees here at the north side of the plant - these have no flowers remaining.
There is construction on this site now. On Richards Street, there is one tree still alive and two dead trees. The rest are gone. Through the construction netting, you can see trees in the courtyard. From the lane in back of the courtyard next to the church, I could count around six trees still looking healthy enough, with several flowers remaining. I had removed these from the map, but it's not as bad as I'd thought, so they're back on the map now. I've left them as a favourite - a little group of 'Shiro-fugen' trees downtown is kind of a big deal. Maybe someone will check on them next year to see if they're worth calling a good photo-op.
Lone ‘Whitcomb’ at Devonian Harbour Park looks like it had a tough winter. In fact most of the ‘Whitcomb’ I have seen around town look like they suffered in the January cold snap. Still, it’s nice to finally see some pink!