Identification: Shirofugen- fluffy double whites fade to pink, bronze leaves turn green, late-season

I do have a question about some of these trees

One of the last to bloom in Vancouver, Shirofugen can be a large-size wide-spreading deciduous tree with a flattened spreading crown.

The deep pink buds open pale pink, turning to spectacular double white flowers 5cm wide hanging in long drooping clusters accented by young bronzy foliage emerging at the same time. The flowers with 20 - 36 petals bloom for a week or more and finally fade to a pink-cerise colour, as the leaves turn green. Can grow to 8.0 meters high and wide.

I'm quite sure that the first photo shows Shirofugens. The other trees are much larger, and the ones entirely under cover have very green leaves. Even so, they all looked like the same tree to me. Now I'm not sure which trees the blossom photo comes from. Are they all Shirofugens, in which case my blossom photo is fine, or should I start over?

 

This photograph shows what I am calling a Shirofugen. There are 12 Shirofugen trees at UBC mostly still in bud at 2329 West Mall. Sorry I do not have the whole tree but I was focusing on photographing blossoms today.

 

Re: Shirofugen – fluffy double whites fade to pink, bronze leaves turn green, late-se

They are all 'Shiro-fugen', I believe. Shade and the warmer temperatures near buildings can really accelerate the leaves turning green from purple-bronze. In the open, trees seldom have much upright vigour.

 

Here's a blossom photo I took this evening. When I read that the blossoms turn "pink-cerise colour" as they age, I had no idea that meant electric pink.

 

These might be my favourite trees. How can you not like a tree that keeps its flowers for two months, but keeps changing what they look like!

This photo was taken June 6. Kuitert (which I just purchased used from Powells in Portland for $16.79 CAD delivered price) mentions the pistils developing into "two perfect little leaves, complete with serration, that are hard to be discerned from true leaves. Only the veining is different". He says they drop their petals first, so I suppose this will get even more interesting.

 

Re: Shirofugen – fluffy double whites fade to pink, bronze leaves turn green, late-se

If Douglas can post Amanogawas in Mt Vernon and Kanzans in Edinburgh, I figure I can post these Seattle Shirofugens, which are great looking trees with amazing horizontal branches. They're in Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery on Aurora, on the west side at the south end. These are two different trees in the same area.



And just because there isn't anything posted here showing how pink the blossoms can get, this is from a Shirofugen across the road in the same cemetery.

 

Shirofugen? Double pale pink, very late

It's June 12 and this little tree is in bloom - that's seriously late. I thought I'd better document it before it dies, as it's not looking too healthy. The only late bloomer with such short pedicels and peduncles I've seen is the unidentified double white in Seattle, but this looks different, being pink not white, and the sepals are very different. I've seen something with sepals turned up on the ends like that, but I don't remember what.

 

Re: What cherry? Double pale pink, very late

Newly planted, judging by the ground it is in. Probably something common and usually much earlier-flowering, delayed by factors associated with the move.

Also looks like it was probably planted too deep, and/or with too much of a mulch volcano.

 

Re: Shirofugen? Double pale pink, very late

Michael, I think you're right. On the 16th, there were several blossoms that looked just like Shirofugen. And one of the photos shows really long stems, so I guess the shortness of all those other stems was a red herring. I have spent so many hours looking at Shirofugens, and so often I can tell right away, I can't believe I still don't have the whole picture. Amit Gandha, a very willing Parks Board person, looked it up for me but had to reply that it must have been planted by someone in the neighbourhood, as there's no Parks Board record of it. That would account for the improper planting.

I guess I'll merge this into the Shirofugen thread in a week or so if no-one comes up with a reason why I shouldn't.

 

Re: Shirofugen? Double pale pink, very late

On Wednesday, June 18, I had a chance to walk close to Shirofugens I know in Richmond. There are still some flowers on the trees and I could see the centre of the flowers turned to leaves. Also I found white and green flowers!! I think they are not the seasonal flowers bloomed proper time.I think they are kind of second blooms because of this cold weather this year.
I saw some tree on 46th & East BLVD in Kerrisdale had some flowers now.

 

Re: Shirofugen – fluffy double whites fade to pink, bronze leaves turn green, late-se

Mariko, I was just checking out an article on flowering cherries in Seattle (written by Arthur Lee Jacobson, who wrote the book Flowering Trees of Seattle, which I just found an old copy of (earlier edition) when I was in Portland), and I came across this sentence on Shirofugens:

It has a habit of blooming again, sparsely, in mid-June or early July.​

That's just what you figured out. I had no idea those could be new blooms. So that sort-of explains the blossoms on that little tree in my neighbourhood, though I'd have expected the blossoms that have such large phylloid pistils to be older blossoms.

 

Re: Shirofugen? Double pale pink, very late

Here's the little tree featured in postings #7-9, still alive one year later and very much in bloom at its proper time at the beginning of May. I was interested to read just now that I'd been confused by the short pedicels and peduncles last year. This year, I was taken by how long the peduncles are. Shirofugens are supposed to have long peduncles - 2cm-6cm; some on this tree are well over 8cm. The leaves on this tree are very green - I'd have been able to confuse it with Shogetsu, but I've never seen a Shogetsu with the leaves growing out of the centre of the flowers as in posting #9, which is the same tree.


Here's a Shirofugen from West Vancouver that also had extremely long peduncles - around 10cm.

 

Re: Shirofugen – fluffy double whites fade to pink, bronze leaves turn green, late-se

On June 4, I found one of three Shogetsu on Yew Street between 43 and 44 has a few second blooms. They are white and green and quite simmilar to the second bloom of Shirofugen. I think Shirofugen, Shogetsu and Pink Perfection are same kind of cherry. They can have second bloom.
So Wendy, I think the small tree which had some flowers in June last year and bloomed with green leaves this year is Shogetsu not Shirofugen.

 

Re: Shirofugen – a rogue's gallery of blossoms

Mariko, I'm not going to agree or disagree with you yet on my little boulevard tree in postings 7, 9 and 12, or on your tree in the previous posting.

What I'm posting here are definitely Shirofugens, the three at English Bay that the Parks Board cleaned up the trunks on. To the locals, they're just shade trees.


But now on June 9, what a diverse collection of blossoms! How would you describe the June blossoms on these trees? They're white, or pink, or white with pink centres, or pink with white centres, semi-double or very double. Surely the first two show second-story flowers.

 

Re: Shirofugen – fluffy double whites fade to pink, bronze leaves turn green, late-se

OK, Mariko. Here's my arsenal of photos of the little tree on Bidwell, in postings 7, 9 and 12. These blossoms look pretty much the same to me as the ones in the previous posting of the English Bay Shirofugens, and the emerging leaves are bronze. I've never seen Shogetsu petals stay on the flower long enough to get deep pink like those in the first photo in the second line. They usually look pretty much white on the ground. I still think Shirofugen.

 

Re: Shirofugen – fluffy double whites fade to pink, bronze leaves turn green, late-se

Well, I haven't reported on this little boulevard 'Shirofugen' on Bidwell for two years. It did not die and in general seems to be doing fine. What struck me about it this year is how all the flowers are on the lower half of the tree. [edited 2014apr30]The owners hacked it back every and now it's dead.