On a recent trip to a local Japanese goods store I noticed there were artificial sprigs of cherry or plum blossoms in various shades of pink. However there was also one of red. I did some checking with the thought that this might be a case of artistic license. A quick search on the web revealed that some varieties of Prunus mume indeed have red blossoms. Are there any such trees growing in the Vancouver area?
There is one outside the parking area at VanDusen Botanical Garden and supposed to be five inside the garden at the great lawn, that group not confirmed. The City of Vancouver has an archive photo from 1992: Prunus mume - City of Vancouver Archives and Growin on Dave's Garden posted a photo from VanDusen in 2008 PlantFiles Pictures: Japanese Flowering Apricot (Prunus mume) by growin There is supposed to be one on the SW corner of King Edward and Hudson, not confirmed to still be there, another unconfirmed one on Fir between 13th and 14th.
Thank you for the information. I'll have to remind myself to check them out next year. According to Wikipedia it blooms "typically around January until late February in East Asia". Do you know when it occurs here? The article also says the tree produces fruit. Does that apply to the ornamental varieties? It turns out BC Liquor Stores carries a wine made with fruit from this tree. I'm looking forward to sampling its taste!
