Re: Sunset Prunus Sato-zakura Group 'Ichiyo', my favourite cherry, and it didn't even have an entry in this forum. These are Douglas Justice's photos of two 'Ichiyo' that bloomed mid April in 2007, and a week later in 2009. These trees are usually fairly large, dense, and healthy-looking. Blossoms are double pale pink or peachy if caught before they start fading to almost white, and they hang 3-4 together on drooping corymbs. Leaves emerge bronze green, but they seem to go green quite quickly, more so usually than on Shirofugens. They look similar to 'Shirofugen', but they bloom a few weeks earlier and have fewer petals in the flowers, and maybe slightly shorter stems. Are they always planted in pairs??
Here's a photo of what the blossoms look like at the end of their season. The phylloid pistil has lost its colour, and the blossoms have gone pink in the centres, but the outside of the petals have faded. The petals and blossoms fall before they turn very pink.
Why not 'Ichiyo'? 41st & Willow, late double pinky-white I think we should have a go at these trees on 41st at Willow. They are not what we were calling 'Edo-zakura' in QE Park (now gone) and 45th and Larch. Some characteristics Joseph Lin and I mentioned of those trees were "stems so short" and "There is no staminode and no phylloid styles". Here's a link to the QE photos and also postings #7 and #8 in that thread; posting #12 shows a comparison with the 45th and Larch tree, which does have much longer pedicels. These trees (I think they're two of the same, but could post them tree by tree if anyone thinks the two could be different cultivars) have long pedicels and do show one phylloid pistil and what Joseph and I would consider staminodes. The blossom I measured was 5cm in diameter. Here are Anne Eng's Fraser Ichiyo photos in the Sunset neighbourhood, and #40 in that thread. Aside from the blooming time, Douglas, what do you see that makes you think these trees at 41st and Willow are not 'Ichiyo'?
