There are a few threads around on the Peter Wharton Cherry Grove next to the parking lot. This one: Ornamental cherries at UBCBG was from 2015, I think from the year after they were planted. 2016/2017 photos are at Early Spring in the Botanical Garden - the Wharton Cherry Grove You can query "cherry" to find the rest. 'Whitcomb' I've decided to start a new thread for 2018 photos, starting with the 'Whitcomb' cherries that seemed to even beat out this cultivar in the West End this year. The flowers were starting to look damaged after the first snow last week; I'm not sure what they look like now. The West End ones have suffered from the second snow, but the colour is still noticeable from a block or two. These photos are from February 20, after the first snow.
The same 'Whitcomb' trees four weeks later. Well past peak bloom, but still a nice splash of colour. 'Whitcomb' have the longest-lasting flowers because it's usually so cold when they open that they are slow to age. And often, some open at the first warming, and others wait for the next bout of warm weather, so the tree colour lasts longer than for others, though not all the flowers are open for four weeks. There is often a lovely mix of dark new blossoms and older ones that have faded to almost white. I find it interesting how different in shape these three trees are.
Another three weeks later, April 12, and there are still flowers on these 'Whitcomb' trees. The ones that opened a while ago have faded to almost white. I remember finding a street tree with white flowers a year or two ago, and it took me the longest time to realize that those white flowers I was trying to identify were from a dark-pink-flowered tree that was a month past its bloom time. Douglas Justice's April 2018 in the Garden | UBC Botanical Garden blog is all about cherries, particularly but not exclusively about the ones in the Peter Wharton Cherry Grove. It's worth a read, as he has descriptions and photos. Here is the interpretive sign for the grove. I am actually a bit late for the 'Surugadai-nioi'. We only know one location for this cultivar, and it's pretty inaccessible on private property, so it has been hard to keep track of when it blooms. I found it a little fragrant, not as much as I was expecting from the "nioi" in its name.
Also in full bloom today is 'Umineko'. The first photo is a little dark, but it shows the fat stars in the centre of the flowers that have always helped me identify this cultivar. 'Shirotae' are just starting to open. These are double blossoms, or semi-double, and I have finally been convinced that 'Shirotae' trees are fragrant. I pass two particularly fragrant ones on my morning walk, but but I talked to a person whose balcony is right next to them who said she never noticed the smell.
Here are two cultivars not open at all. 'Ojochin', with purple buds that will open to pinky-white semi-double or sometimes single fairly large flowers for cherries. And 'Gyoiko', with a tag that still says Kizakura, though Douglas Justice writes about it as Gyoiko. The flowers are supposed to be somewhat to very green. This has been a cold year, so maybe less green.
I see that I didn't limit this thread to the Wharton Grove in the thread title, so here are a couple more. O-yama-zakura, big mountain cherry, is tagged in the garden with its botanical name Prunus sargentii. This little group that looks like one tree is on the main path in the garden and has white flowers on one part and pink flowers on the rest. The garden is undergoing some construction work and I wasn't able to get into a good position to get the pink flowers. Outside the fence (or are they just inside the fence? Now I don't remember) on 16th are these two trees, with some flowers considerably more pink than others. The row of 'Tai-haku', "great white cherry" along 16th at the garden entrance are just starting to open. These trees are grafted, yes? All the other cherries in the garden are not grafted. This cultivar is completely open in Kitsilano, just starting in the rest of the city.
April 18, six days later than the photo date in the previous posting, and the 'Tai-haku' along the road are completely open. The 'Shirotae' are almost fully open now. Not so for 'Gyoiko', not even photographed today, and 'Ojochin', one of which has five flowers open. The Stanley Park tree, from which this was cloned, had many flowers open three days ago. 'Surugadai-nioi' were already past their prime last time, but I'm posting one photo to mention that today I found it fragrant. 'Umineko' are now past their prime, in their red-eye stage.
April 27, 2018. Nine days since my last visit. 'Ojochin' is at peak bloom right now. These flowers are nice, and they're fragrant, but those leaves!! The leaf margins steal the show for me. Some of these photos show an identifying feature: some of the leaves have attenuated tips and others are rounded.
Here is the tree that was initially called 'Asagi', thinking it looked more green than 'Ukon', but that idea was dropped and it is now being called 'Ukon', except on the label. The impression it gave today was golden - bronze leaves and yellow flowers, with many buds still to open.
'Gyoiko' (with a tag that says 'Hizakura') is hardly open, just a few flowers. This is good, because that cultivar is supposed to open a few days later than 'Ukon', and now we have the two cultivars in the same place, instead of trying to compare them in different neighbourhoods. I think I photographed every open flower. The impression it gave was greener leaves than 'Ukon' and flowers more white with green.
It's May 4, eight days after I photographed the 'Gyoiko' still mostly in bud, and now it's past peak bloom. I really thought I would be in good time today. When I first saw the tree, I thought there were no flowers left at all, and I even had trouble finding the tree. Here is the 'Ukon' for comparison. These flowers too too seem to have a lot of green. We convinced ourselves that they looked different from the 'Gyoiko' flowers we had just looked at. For one thing, the flowers were much more visible from a little distance.
I promise, this is the last time I will compare these 'Ukon' and 'Gyoiko' flowers. This year. Last week I said they were past peak bloom; this week, they shouldn't really be worth talking about, but actually, the flowers close up are kind of stunning, both cultivars. 'Gyoiko', lots of green, red and white, as in the female courtiers' robes for which they are named. Particularly the outer petals are green and seemingly a bit thicker than the other petals. 'Ukon', looking as colourful, but the flowers look pretty different from the back, more pink, less green.
When did this Prunus maackii appear next to the parking lot?! Really, would I have missed this last week? I assume this is the one that was accessioned in 2013 and has been in the nursery. These trees are generally planted as ornamentals for their shiny copper-coloured bark, rather than for their bird cherry looking flowers. With the branches so low and the trunk in the shade anyway, I had to get up quite close to recognize it.
It is still 2018, so here is a little autumn colour. Prunus 'Ukon' (the one with the 'Asagi' label) Prunus 'Surugadoi-nioi' There were some awesome-looking fungi under the Prunus 'Ojochin'. I will post them in the Fungi forum, since I know folks interested in fungi won't be looking here.
