Well when I went to check out the nice trees from last year, nothing much was blossoming quite yet but there was this one tree that was quite nice.
Yes, I was there yesterday too, was surprised that the 'Accolade' trees like what @yaletowner just posted, were not further along, since the ones in the West End are in full bloom now. But as you can see in his blossom photo, there is a lot of good colour variation now - I prefer this stage to the more uniform colour when all the flowers are open. Here are trees on Pender Street, the three blocks from Princess to Campbell. It's easy right here to distinguish the 'Autumnalis Rosea' trees, which all look pretty much like this. Part of the reason is that they have had flowers since November or so, which means they have fewer at any one time. But really, this tree probably did not look much better than this in the past season. This tree is on Hawks, at Georgia, part of the Strathcona Linear Park, where the Parks Board has annoyingly added a young 'Akebono' in the middle of each intersection planting. Here is what excited me - a 'Rancho' on Union west of Hawks, not yet in bloom, with 'Colt' rootstock in bloom. It smells like 'Colt', and it's the right time for it; I think I have this right.
The Shirotae on the NW corner of Jackson and E. Pender looks like it suffered a stroke to its left side, where branches have neither leaf nor flower. Right side looks normal on April 5, 2020.
We'll have to balance the Shirotae old-timer at Jackson and E. Pender with its young, up-and-coming challenger in a front yard on the west side of Princess, south of Keefer.
Ito-zakura finishing its bloom in private front yard garden on the SW corner of Princess and Keefer, April 05, 2020.
Two Rancho in bloom on north side E. Pender, east of Jackson on April 5, 2020. Emerging red leaves on bark are sticky.
Somei-Yoshino at peak bloom on west side of Princess, north E. Pender, on April 5, 2020. Kitty corner to the Akebono on Strathcona School grounds.
The Accolade trees running along E. Pender for three blocks from Princess to Campbell are past peak bloom, but still looking good on April 5, 2020.
The two Whitcomb trees on the north side of Terminal, west of Station are showing blossoms at February 17, 2021. But wait another week for preferential visibility at two blocks away.
The two Accolades in the little park-ish area of Hawkes and E. Georgia are nicely in bloom at March 17, 2021. These two are just north of two others at Strathcona Linear Park; see next post.
Strathcona Linear Park at Hawkes and Union has its two Accolades in bloom at March 17, 2021. All the Accolades on this stretch of Hawkes have good trunks.
The Kanzan trees lining the north side of Union, from Jackson westward to Dunlevy, are already in full bloom at April 17, 2021. They look Kanzan as usual, with the emerging bronze green leaves, and double, deep-pink blossoms. Except their lead tree, the one at the beginning of the line starting at Jackson and heading west, has a shoot that looks like this: Not only are the flowers a much lighter pink, but the buds are also pink, and the leaves are more green than bronze. It's like a demon seed is sprouting from your inwards, even if the demon is more attractive than you are. It's a Kanzan-stein.
A couple of Accolades are in bloom today along the Union bike route before the rainstorm. Here is photos of one.
O-yama-zakura is in full bloom in the yard of Lord Strathcona Elementary (NE Keefer and Jackson) at April 5, 2022.
Even the birds seem attracted to the 'Shirotae' fragrance. This swallow looks like it's taking a whiff of the full bloom on the NW corner of Jackson and E. Pender at April 5, 2022.
The 'Shiro-fugen' line along the east side of Gore, between Keefer and Union at May 4, 2022. Green leaves, with flowers, white and pink make 'Shiro-fugen' look very different from early days, as shown here in the last picture by the 'Shiro-fugen' in Riley Park at April 27, 2022.
The 'Shiro-fugen' trees along the east side of Gore, between Keefer and Union are in bloom at May 1, 2023. Many of the flowers in this shot show a pair of phylloid pistils.
