Re: West End, Stanley Park Here's a progress report on the two young Tai Haku trees on Nelson, west of Gilford, which seem to be doing very well. The two trees on Comox east of Chilco that Joseph Lin and I call 'Umbrella' are also doing fine, even without a name. Umbels, right? [edited by wcutler 2009apr30] I posted photos last year from I think the same tree in which they seem to clearly be corymbs.
Re: Shogetsu and Shirofugen - West End, Pendrell west of Thurlow I saw these again on April 24 and the Shogetsu has several open blossoms. None at all open on the Shirofugen, which you can see behind it in the photo. It will be hard to miss my favourite Kanzan at the end of the block. It seems to open a bit before others in the area and I remember it seeming to have not as harsh a colour.
Re: West End, Stanley Park I looked and looked and looked so hard at this Mikuruma-gaeshi on Pendrell between Thurlow and Bute, north side, one of 11 on the block, I think it decided to come up with some double blossoms just to get me to go away. Mostly these trees have only five petals, with the occasional staminode.
Re: Ojochin - Stanley Park, at Japanese Memorial Last year, Joseph Lin did a posting with a story involving the history of the Japanese Monument. There's also the history of our figuring out what this tree was, and there are lots of photos of it.
Re: Shogetsu and Shirofugen - West End, Pendrell west of Thurlow April 28 - the Shogetsu is in full bloom. The Shirofugen has a few blossoms open now. It's much more bronzy-coloured than the Shogetsu and the blossoms seem more puffy. The Kanzan is looking excellent, but I don't notice any difference this year in colour between this and the Kanzan nearby. Maybe because it bloomed before the other in previous years, it had faded to a nicer colour sooner. Of the 11 Mikuruma-gaeshi trees on the block, the one that had a few extra staminodes at last report now seems to have a lot of double blossoms. It's across the street from the Shogetsu.
Re: West End, Stanley Park This arrangement at the street at the Sutton Place Hotel on Burrard and Smythe is very funny - seven trees quite close together in what was obviously supposed to be a symmetrical arrangement, but the tree on the left as you face them from the street is an Ukon, not a Shirotae like the others.
Re: Shogetsu and Shirofugen - West End, Pendrell west of Thurlow May 7 - both trees are in full bloom. The Shogetsu flowers are mostly dropping white, with some turning a pale mauve colour. I missed the few days when the Shirofugen had mostly white blossoms; they're already turning fluorescent pink from the centres. You can see both trees in the third photo, the Shogetsu on the very left behind the green tree. The Mikuruma-gaeshi trees on the block are well past prime, but the blossoms on the one across the street from the two favourites have turned very pink.
Re: West End, Stanley Park There are still cherries in fine shape in Stanley Park. What I'm calling Gyoiko this year (has been posted previously as Not-a-Ukon in the Cultivar IDs forum) is looking very yellow from a distance. It's just outside the maintenance area inside the golf course, off the Rhododendron path. From the Rhody path, just before the bridge to Lost Lagoon is this very nice pink whatzit with very long stems. [edited by wcutler 20090715: We're tentatively calling this 'Shujaku', with some misgivings. I thought the blossoms were single last year, which should make 'Shujaku' not correct. Walking just a bit north on the Rhody path, there's a tall Amanogawa snuggled next to a very tall magnolia and a Cunninghamia. There are two Amanogawa shoots coming from almost the ground on the trunk, but there is also an Avium on either side of the trunk, so I'm guessing the graft is at ground level. The Shirofugens at the Japanese Memorial are looking wonderful. Definitely worth a trip, and they should be looking good for a couple of weeks yet.
Re: West End, Stanley Park This would come under the "what were they thinking?" department, and would not be worth posting, except that up till recently there were very few known Shogetsus in the city, so it would have been exciting. Now I've discovered the Shogetsus at the Bayshore, but I'm still posting this to be able to show the scout who lives very close by. This is just around the corner from the Ichiyos on Cardero, in the lane south of Davie. But what a planting! A nice spreading tree, not destined to be all that tall, hemmed in on each side by a tall upright cherry. I don't know what the early one is on the left - single white with medium length corymbs of two or three flowers, and an Avium on the right, which doesn't look like it's taken over from anything grafted. The thing is, the Shogetsu seems to be in excellent condition, much better than two of the other three single Shogetsu trees in the West End.
Re: West End, Stanley Park I just noticed another big old P. serrula, birch bark cherry, in Stanley Park on the Camellia and Magnolia walk along the south side of the golf course. It's on the street side, set back from the path, about half way down the path. In the first photo, it's the one in the distance with the pale leaves.
Re: West End, Stanley Park New season's blooms Just one more day till the winter solstice - the day I feel that I've made it through the winter and things are about to brighten up. Here's a little bright spot. I don't remember these Autumnalis rosea trees ever looking so good, in the lane off Thurlow between Burnaby and Harwood Streets. They're almost a splash of colour - I noticed them as I was driving by and you can see the colour from a half-block away. They've just come out like this since the freezing days last week. These blossoms are about a half inch in diameter (under 2cm).
Re: West End, Stanley Park These Autumnalis Rosea trees at Pacific Heights Co-op on Pacific west of Burrard were a festival favourite last year (for 2009), but they looked terrible by the time they were publicized as a favourite. They're looking quite nice now, December 26, 2009 - almost a splash of colour. There are four of the same cultivar two blocks down Pacific just east of Jervis, on the south side. These are also very noticeable now, also looking better than I've seen them before. [edited by wcutler 20091227: I replaced the first one with a photo taken the next day].
Re: West End, Stanley Park - Autumnalis Rosea and Whitcomb The three Autumnalis Rosea trees at Lost Lagoon are impressive from a distance, but not so exciting close up. I didn't realize how much colour they had until I was up on the road and showing someone where to find them. Here's a Whitcomb from Haro Park Manor, a festival favourite from I forget which year. It's really not in bloom, except for one branch overhanging the road. Last week, this branch had about half these blossoms already open. All the West End Whitcombs have at least one open blossom. These early blossoms are quite small, about 2cm in diameter. [edited by wcutler 2010aug22:] These 'Whitcomb' trees are gone now.
Re: West End, Stanley Park The mild but quick deep freeze in December may have had an impact on the blossom size for this year, but the current warm spell may prove interesting for the balance of the winter blooms....no?
Re: West End, Stanley Park Till it freezes. After last year's (2008/09) freeze, the Whitcombs never looked good, nor did the Autumnalis Rosea for the rest of what should have still been their season. Everything else was fine, I guess because they weren't far enough along to have the open buds and flowers frozen.
Re: West End, Stanley Park I think we have to say these Whitcombs at Nicola mini-park are in bloom - not peak-bloom, but they definitely have lots of blossoms open. This is a full two months earlier than last year. I'm still attracted to that balcony naturally decorated by the blossoms. In the photo below, blossoms at the top are the Autumnalis Rosea in the same location. This was taken four days ago, when the Whitcombs weren't quite as far along. These Autumnalis Rosea are looking particularly good this year, as in other West End locations.
Re: West End, Stanley Park The Whitcomb by the Aquatic centre is in bloom. The Accolades beside it has full blossoms here and there. But most of the branches are just starting to bud. There are two Shirofugen just to the west of the others. There's no sign of anything happening on them. There's an Accolade tree blossoming on the north side of Beach at Thurlow. There are photos of the tree and blossoms. I took some photos of other trees nearby (Thurlow). The order of the photo: -Whitcomb -Whitcomb blossoms -Accolade blossoms on tree next to Whitcomb -another Accolade on the north side of beach -blossoms from the same tree -west side of Thurlow and Beach is a nice Shirofugen -east side of Thurlow and Beach another Accolade and behind it going up the hill are also Accolades All photos taken Feb. 2, 2010.
Re: West End, Stanley Park The photos of buds are hard to get as they are all well over my head. I guess I need a stepladder. :)
Re: West End, Stanley Park - Whitcombs OK, I'm calling it peak bloom for the West End Whitcombs. Closest to where I live are the ones in the minipark at Nicola and Pendrell. Of the three Autumnalis Roseas there, only one has any really noticeable blossoms, up quite high, but it's totally overshadowed of course by the three much showier Whitcombs. Down Nicola to Beach are the trees outside this lovely old building. One tree that should be in the foreground is gone now, a victim of the windstorm in the fall (?). This is Nelson at Bute, with another two Whitcombs in the background at Jervis. And these are the two trees at Haro Park Manor, at Bute. [edited by wcutler 2010aug22:]These trees are no longer there. I saw a few plum blossoms peeking out on several streets. Only white ones.
Re: West End, Stanley Park Snapshots of a Whitcomb at Stanley Park I came to this Whitcomb in Stanley Park by accident. The weather was perfect after a few days of miserable rain. Although it has passed its prime, the tree is still beautiful to look at.
Re: West End, Stanley Park - Pendulas I didn't really think the Pendulas would be in bloom yet, but went to have a look. This tree on Beach Avenue is not worth a trip yet, but it was pretty trippy to see some blossoms open. In 2007, an early year, peak bloom for this tree was March 15. But then I went over to Thurlow at Barclay, and I'd have to say these pendulas are in bloom. They opened around April 10 last year, and mid- March the year before. One of the open ones is more pink than the other two - Ron said in some previous posting that that would be a Beni-shidare. The one not open yet is Yae-beni-shidare, a double blooming one.
Re: West End, Stanley Park Here's the first Somei-yoshino I've seen this season in full bloom, on Pendrell west of Gilford. The Whitcombs in the background behind the apartment building that backs onto the corner across the street are still looking excellent. That's the Sylvia Hotel in the left background. Since the forums are doing bio-diversity, I'll sneak in a mention of the heronry at the edge of the park, two blocks down Pendrell. The herons are back.
Re: Downtown The Akebonos by the Dale Chihuly sculpture on the corner of Georgia and Bute are about 40% in bloom already. So are the ones a little further west on Georgia. I didn't take any pictures because these have been well photographed before.