First posting in 2008 Kitsilano is a happenin' place right now. It seems to be even ahead of the West End, as if that could be possible. But the Akebono (? - no visible staminodes, but no witches broom either) at the Armory has lots of open flowers. These Shirotae must be only days away from being fully open, not that I know how to judge that. [edited by wcutler 20090717: I love how I neglected to provide any information at all here - these are at Broadway and Maple, northeast corner] But another group of four Shirotae on an apartment building property on Maple at 2nd (SW corner) have buds only just beginning to colour. I have no idea what these two trees are on 6th Ave just west of Cypress. I'd guess Spire, but I didn't see anything bright pink and cup-shaped or any red-stained centres. [edited to add location - wcutler] [edited again - Douglas has identified these as 'Pandora' - wcutler] And here's a nice Whitcomb in a pocket park at 6th and Maple.
* Finished - Akebonos - Kitsilano, Kits Beach park on Cornwall at Yew Two (?) huge Akebonos at Kits Beach are not quite yet in bloom, but are due out by the end of March.
Re: Akebono - Kitsilano, Kits Beach Park on Cornwall at Yew Scout Report 2008-April-1 Please help to ID the flowers There are at least 2+5+2 cherry trees, the big 5 trees are in a cluster. Area: #12 Kitsilano Beach Park, at Cornwall & Yew St. Time: Apr-01, around 14:30 Blossom: Yedoensis(?) picture #1 & #2, around 50% of full Akebono(?) picture #3 , in the Park, around 1/3 of full
Scout Report 2008-April-01 There are a lot of cherries in Vancouver Museum area Just for Information: A. Pictures #1~#3, at the front area of Museum. B. Pictures #4~#6, at the back side, Avium plena (?), it's almost of full bloom [edited by wcutler: Somei-yoshino (?), still a question]
Re: Kitsilano Shirotae I'm pushing it by posting these already, but Kits scouts should look out for these Shirotae on 1st west of Burrard, as the blossoms have just started to come out and it will be a great show.
Prunus avium 'Plena' is like other sweet cherries except for extra petals. Same tall erect habit and flowering time, not appearing pink from a distance.
Nah - I remember these from last year. They're not baby versions of plenas, which grow up to be great big trees with a round crown and bloom here in late April. Plena blossoms are smaller and denser than these too. I've been smitten with Shirotae buds all spring, and I'm pretty sure that's what these trees are. Shirotae are just about to bloom around town now. [Edited by Wendy] Ron, I see you were referring to Alex's posting, not my Shirotae. His museum ones are probably not Plenas either, but I can't really tell what they are.
This cherry tree with the other three are located by the planetarium. This cherry flowers look like weeping Higan cherry (Pendula). They are small, deep pink, bell shape with five petals, most of them 5 flowers together, without apparent weeping branches. The photos are shown at http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=37136 Commented by Ron B: The top one looks like Prunus pendula 'Stellata': Dark pink buds open to pale pink, tightly clustered single flowers, to 1 3/8" wide, as many as 10 per bud, with an extremely long season of bloom in spring. The name refers to the petal edges rolled inwards so as to accentuate the star-like appearance --Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed, Berkeley)
This cherry flowers has beautiful light pink 5 petals with notch, flat shap, three flowers together. 3~4 trees are located 6 Ave. between Yew and Arbutus Street. There are several kinds of unknown cherry trees on this block. The photos were posted at http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=37139 Commented by Ron B: Resembles 'Pandora' shown elsewhere in Edmonds, WA
Re: Akebono - Kitsilano, Kits Beach park on Cornwall at Yew These trees at Kitsilano Beach park are right on Cornwall at Yew. They're Akebonos, and they're looking excellent now. There are two west of the intersection and five in a grove east of the intersection,.
* Finished - Shirotae - Kitsilano, 1st Ave beteen Burrard and Cornwall This is a pretty little row of storefront houses and a pretty little row of Shirotae. There are lots of blossoms now, but it's not really exciting yet to anyone but me. Here's the map:
Re: Kitsilano - Oshima I guess I found the Oshimas. I almost posted a "what cherry" at Kits Beach that I finally decided was Shirotae, which I thought I really knew, but these looked very single to me until I saw the enlargement of the photos on my screen and saw might might have been a double row of blossoms. I noticed the long serrated-edged sepals that I had just noticed on the Shirotae downtown, so that got me thinking it looked familiar. But now that I see that there are supposed to be Oshima at the east end of Kits Park, and these are right at Arbutus near the restaurant, I'm guessing they're the Oshima and they really are single blossoms. There are two of them. These photos are from April 3, so they're probably just about open now on the 7th.
Down here we have plantings of 'Hosokawa-nioi' and 'Shirotae' mixed together. In addition you can find web pages listing 'Hosokawa' mistakenly as a synonym of 'Shirotae'. Cherries encountered there that resemble 'Shirotae' but with smaller, less numerous petals (and an almond fragrance) may turn out to be this one.
I don't know what kind of cherry it is? The diameter of these tiny pink flowers are only 1 cm. Sorry, I cannot get the good photo in this rainy day. There are more than 4 columnar trees on the same block as the Pandoras on north side of 6 Ave. between Arbutus and Yew Street.
I have one to add of those 6th Ave trees that Joseph just posted. This is from April 3, when the trees were hardly out yet. Thanks for reminding me about these, Joseph. Well, I think the second photo I've just added is from the same set of trees.
Douglas told me he thinks this tree at 8th and Arbutus is supposed to be Spire. I only discovered it yesterday, the same day he told me about it, and it's way past blooming, it was 7pm when I took the photos, and I'm sorry the photo is probably the worst one I've ever displayed and that was the good corner of the photo, but it's all I have at the moment. Thing is, it seems just good enough to see the shape of the calyx and sepals - they look like the ones on the 6th Ave trees. Now we just have to get a closeup of the trees on Oak outside VanDusen that Roy Forster said were Spire. [Edited by wcutler 20100315: this had been identified as 'Colt', the rootstock of whatever was planted.] We've been calling the pathetic West End gas station trees Spire, which have calyxes that look like this, so it would be nice to get this straight, as I have these up as Spire on the webpage. There's a photo of the tree in the Umineko thread of the ID Forum (we got off topic). I think these can't both be Spire. How about Columnaris for the pale things sort-of shaped like what we're calling Ranchos?
Re: Kitsilano - Japanese Mountain Cherry I didn't get any successful branches photos from my 7pm attempt last night, but from the flowers, this looks like it might be the Japanese mountain cherry, possibly P.serrulata var.spontanea, as identified in the P.serrulata var.spontanea thread in the Cultivar IDs forum. The three trees are on Balsam, west side just north of 3rd Ave.
At dusk, I was glad to see the Oshima by the tennis court of Kitsilano Beach on Arbutus St. Hope you can appreciate their beauty and see the details.
With better sunlight at NW cornerof Balsam St. & 3rd Ave., I took better photos for your appreciation & identification.
Maybe this is the last chance for us to see the better details of these unknown tiny pink flowers on these columnar cherries on north side of 6 Ave. between Arbutus and Yew Street.
>unknown tiny pink flowers on these columnar cherries< Think this is going to turn out to be the Prunus x schmittii D. Justice mentioned being in the UBC cherry orchard. See page 268, Eyewitness Handbooks - Trees by Allen J. Coombes (1992, Dorling Kindersley, New York) and Google Images for photos.
Scout Report 2008-April-11 Area: #8, Kitsilano, Vanier Park Location: Front of Museum Time: April-11 around 17:30, sunny Blossom: Somi-Yoshino, Full bloom Photo: 4
Scout Report 2008-April-11 Area: #8, Kitsilano, Vanier Park Location: Back area of Museum Time: April-11, around 18:00, sunny Blossom: Akebono/Yoshino(?), Full bloom & more Photo: 4
Woo-hoo! The two Tai Haku on Burrard across from the Armory are in full bloom. These are supposed to bloom mid- to late-April, so maybe everything is going to catch up and every cherry in the city will be in bloom at the same time. On the other hand, Kits does seem to be the hot spot this year. Is Alex's first photo in the previous post awesome or what!
Re: Kitsilano - Ukons on Point Grey Road The Ukons on Point Grey Road at Macdonald are looking excellent, April 24, 2008. The blossoms look white, but compare the colour of the trees with the off-white car.
