While I'm doing ridiculous, here are the 'Spire', relatives of 'Rancho' and similarly afflicted, at the gas station at Burrard and Davie. This first one seems to be all 'Spire'. I assume there's some of the avium rootstock on the middle tree, and I'm not at all sure what's happening on the third tree.
'Somei-yoshino' and 'Akebono' - if you catch these things early enough, and if they're growing next to each other, there's no difficulty telling them apart. The tree in front with the pink buds and pinkish emerging blossoms is 'Akebono'. The flower photo is actually from the 'Akebono' behind the 'Somei-yoshino'. As an aside, this 'Akebono' across the street has no open flowers. This is the 'Somei-yoshino', with white buds and white opening flowers. The block of 'Accolade' a block away on Chilco between Comox and Nelson seems as fully open as it is going to get. There are maybe another 5% of buds remaining, not enough to improve the overall appearance. The two 'Accolade' on Pacific at Burrard are in full bloom now, and are showier than the ones above.
Here are two young 'Rancho' on Bute Street next to Nelson Park. One seems to be in full bloom; the other has no open flowers and appears to be dead, particularly compared to the other. It has buds that look ok. It seems to either be on its own roots, or be low grafted, and maybe that makes a difference in the blooming time.
I was so surprised yesterday, driving on a major and frequently travelled route out of the West End past St. Andrews Wesley United Church at Nelson and Burrard, to see this 'Snow Goose', particularly since I claim to know every cherry in the West End and have never seen this tree that does not appear to be all that young. It's admittedly more noticeable when it's in bloom, and maybe it's an older tree that was purchased after the renovation was completed two years ago, and maybe I didn't use that route for the two weeks it was in bloom. What was even more surprising was reading the label that said it's 'Akebono', complete with a description totally not matching the tree's appearance. Of course, we'll never know if it's really 'Umineko'. What we do know is that it's not 'Akebono'.
The six cherries out front of the Sutton Place Hotel were clearly meant to all be 'Shirotae', but it's very obvious right now that one is 'Ukon'. It's a lot more obvious than in my photos - green leaves vs. bronze leaves; very white flowers vs. greenish white flowers; peak bloom now vs. almost all still in bud. These all have 'Ukon' next to 'Shirotae'. This looks like it would be more than just two 'Akebono' - they are in a private garden but are very visible from the street. I think there were three 'Akebono' in Nelson Park; now there are two, but they are looking ok, with flowers conveniently down at eye level. I always tell cherry scouts not to bother posting single 'Akebono' trees, but I liked this tree and its setting.
Now is a good time to compare ‘Somei-yoshino’ with ‘Akebono’, especially if they are planted near each other, as these two trees are on Pendrell, west of Gilford. ‘Somei-yoshino’ on top of photo, ‘Akebono’ on the bottom. ‘Somei-yoshino’ blossoms look whiter and centres look slightly star-shaped. Wendy Cutler pointed out to me just today that ‘Somei-yoshino’ branches have more bends in their branches. ‘Akebono’ blossoms look pinker. Notice the extra petal in the blossom to the far left of photo. ‘Akebono’ branches look smoother and straighter.
Hello @wcutler I don’t see recent March 2024 pix if the old stand of cherries near the Japanese war memorial lantern in Stanley Park (a short path NE down from where the miniature train is & the Stanley Park trolley bus loop begin- end) - i think bus #19 Any blossom there at memorial lantern?
i understand — my friend w connection to that memory wondered so I thought « ask the leader scout » it’s all a lovely and hopefully slow show QUESTION - I remember you or perhaps another person took an artful photo of blossoms in front of that beautiful old building somewhere close to English Bay I think the building is from 1930s and is a butter yellow paint on art deco low rise apartments with inner courtyard — i think it’s on a slope like most buildings at that point south of Davie def east of Denman maybe south end of Thurlow just north of Beach? I don’t know address - someone here will know - i am not an expert on west end streets maybe @Willard Or @yaletowner ? thank you Wendy for all your work
Look through the West End Neighbourhood thread. It would have been when 'Shiro-fugen' were posted at Beach and Nicola.
I'm doing a map for my Easter Parade walk on Sunday, and will be pointing out some trees that somebody has not bothered to post nor put on the map (the "somebody" would be me). Though they are not great trees, it would be helpful to have the map markers. Broughton Street has young 'Akebono' all along. We will be on Barclay; these 'Akebono' will be visible off in the distance. [Edited]I forgot one of the trees: you can see a small white splotch above the cars in the photo above - that's a 'Shirotae' south of Barclay on Broughton. We will be on Barclay, at which there are more 'Akebono'. This one is on the Broughton side of Heritage Square. Across the street is one 'Takasago'. It's so hard to take good blossom photos of these, because every flower bunch has not-attractive dangling leaves and stuff. Continuing down Barclay to Cardero, there are two not bad-looking 'Takasago', which someone did put on the map years ago. But she didn't remember to do a tree photo this time. Around the corner on Barclay is a 'Mikuruma-gaeshi'. There used to be five on the block; now two remain. Here is a very pretty 'Akebono' youngster, maybe not grafted but not top grafted at any rate, and not pinched to encourage extra branch growth. I have room to say 'Kanzan' are coming - red buds are easily visible and have started to swell, hanging on 2cm pedicels.
I planned the route in the previous posting because I "knew" that 'Akebono' would be well past their prime, but I ran into a friend on the street on March 30 who showed me her photos of the very impressive-looking flowers nearer to Stanley Park. So for my walk we did the trees above, and then I led everyone to Lost Lagoon and then let co-host @Laura Blumenthal take the folks on to the Rose Garden and the 'Shiro-fugen' allee near the Aquarium. These photos are from Lost Lagoon on March 30. Some folks were appreciating the 'Shirotae' at Lost Lagoon for their hanami. To the left of the old 'Shirotae' a little farther on are three younger trees of the same cultivar. This grove of 'Akebono' at the old bus loop at the foot of Alberni have developed into a draw since their planting in 2010 (https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/west-end-stanley-park.35159/page-6#post-248323). There is a similar grove on the other side of the underpass to the north side of West Georgia. Young 'Akebono' planted along the path to the Rose Garden have grown enough that they are now capturing a lot of interest. Among them are three old Somei-yoshino'. This is the usual Rose Garden shot. Actually, it's the Shakespeare Garden, but it's always called the Rose Garden. And the walk back.
Everything is still opening all at once, but now instead of that referring just to the mid-season bloomers, it includes the late bloomers. Late mid-season trees include 'Shirotae' pictured above and this 'Tai-haku' on Nelson Street, both photographed March 30. I photographed the mid-season Korean hill cherry on March 29 on Pantages Lane at Cardero. The buds on the the late-season 'Shogetsu' next to it were swelling up but not open. I just posted a 'Shogetsu' with a lot of open flowers in the Downtown thread. Today, April 3, late-season 'Ama-no-gawa' are fully open on Alberni and Bute, at the liquor store. It's nice that these are almost always low grafted, often with some new growth low on the trunk, since the flowers face upward and the only chance to look into them is when they're growing below eye-level. I'd forgotten that these are fragrant, definitely noticed it today. This late-season 'Kanzan' on Bidwell at Barclay had fewer than 10 flowers open three days ago. It looks more open in real life than in this photo, though it's probably only 10 percent open today. I expect it to be at 70% by the weekend.
I forgot to post the 'Ichiyo' in Ted Northe Lane east of Cardero. You can see a sweet cherry behind (to the right of) the two 'Ichiyo'. I'd have said it probably started life as 'Ichiyo', except that there seems to be a rule, at least locally, that this cultivar be planted in pairs. The three West End locations were in pairs, and the two at one of the locations died as a pair. They were on opposite sides of the entrance path to a highrise building, near the sidewalk. These are big beautiful trees.
The pair of ‘Takasago’ are easy to spot at the Rockery just north of the Rose Garden in Stanley Park. Even though they are past peak bloom, they look better than I remember them from the past.
