Vancouver Cherry Blog Vancouver Cherry Blog Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:42:40 +0000 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:42:40 +0000 UBC Botanical Garden Forums https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/vancouver-cherry-blog.286/ Wow, this cherry has more than one look! Sun, 26 Apr 2026 06:12:36 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/wow-this-cherry-has-more-than-one-look.105510/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/wow-this-cherry-has-more-than-one-look.105510/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler @Tao31 for inspiring this posting. She wrote to me:
"Wow, 'Ito-kukuri' has more than one look. The reason I started to second guess my thoughts is the flowers look more whitish, not pink enough."
I've been thinking about this for days. For what it's worth, here's what I've got.

Species trees (wild, not cultivated trees) often have more than one look, because cherry trees don't come true from seeds. You don't know what fertilized the...

Wow, this cherry has more than one look!]]> 20 years of cherry scouting Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:46:09 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/20-years-of-cherry-scouting.105478/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/20-years-of-cherry-scouting.105478/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler "Lifers" @Anne Eng , @Laura Blumenthal , @eteinindia (Mariko Izaki) are the only others I can see who joined the forums in 2008 and are still posting. I enjoyed seeing the forum handles of others who joined us for a while and then moved on. I particularly miss...

20 years of cherry scouting]]> What does it mean, "in bloom"? Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:36:53 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/what-does-it-mean-in-bloom.72512/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/what-does-it-mean-in-bloom.72512/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler map and those blooming dates! I'm having much more trouble than I remember deciding when trees are in bloom, and that's for the ones that I've actually seen, never mind the sections of the city I haven't seen. I'm also feeling a bit of pressure this year to show trees as being in bloom. The festival director's friends tell her they've seen trees in bloom at some location, and she wonders why they're not showing on the map.

Here's an...

What does it mean, "in bloom"?]]> 15 Pinkinsh trees Mon, 16 Dec 2024 07:36:03 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/pinkinsh-trees.104907/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/pinkinsh-trees.104907/ invalid@example.com (Garry Oak) Garry Oak From 1964 to 1968, I spent hours (5/7) admiring pink-flowering trees as I drove (in my Morris Oxford) along 41st Avenue and Marine Drive to UBC . . . the trees, imposing hedges, gardens and lovely houses too.

For quite a long time, I preferred the dark pink flowers but eventually came to love the light pink ones better.
I didn’t then, and don’t now, care what their names were. Just enjoying their ethereal beauty was enough to charge my spirit...

Pinkinsh trees]]> 1 2022 - a good year for cherries Fri, 25 Mar 2022 21:02:20 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/2022-a-good-year-for-cherries.102076/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/2022-a-good-year-for-cherries.102076/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler Blossom Update: A Good Year for Cherries – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca)]]> Another tree that is not a cherry Wed, 21 Apr 2021 19:03:12 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/another-tree-that-is-not-a-cherry.97685/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/another-tree-that-is-not-a-cherry.97685/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
I feel bad about writing to so rarely, and when I do, it’s about everything except ornamental cherries. So I will just start by saying that we are in late cherry season now, and flowers for all of the trees in our book have put in an appearance somewhere. And there are still blossoms hanging on the mid-season trees – ‘Takasago’ flowers in the West End are what I would call lilac-coloured now. Late season ‘Ukon’ have been out...

Another tree that is not a cherry]]> 5 Cherry Blossoms in Other Cities Tue, 05 May 2020 19:42:14 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/cherry-blossoms-in-other-cities.97596/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/cherry-blossoms-in-other-cities.97596/ invalid@example.com (yaletowner) yaletowner 5 Some videos 2020 Tue, 05 May 2020 07:20:00 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/some-videos-2020.97684/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/some-videos-2020.97684/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
@yaletowner posted a link to a webcam, not a video, you can watch if the season here went by too fast for you and you want to see it all again in real time in Toronto.


If that's too long to watch, VCBF just posted a sort of recap of the season here, although it starts with 'Shiro-fugen', the last to bloom, then goes back to earlier 'Akebono' and ends with 'Kanzan', all in two...

Some videos 2020]]> 1 Mid-season (2020) notes Fri, 01 May 2020 20:59:59 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/mid-season-2020-notes.97517/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/mid-season-2020-notes.97517/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
Our scout lifers and newbies have been heeding Dr. Bonnie Henry's advice to get out for a walk and soak...

Mid-season (2020) notes]]> 1 The "neighbourhoods" Wed, 02 May 2018 03:24:16 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/the-neighbourhoods.93058/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/the-neighbourhoods.93058/ invalid@example.com (yaletowner) yaletowner
The "neighbourhoods"]]> 2 2017 - a late year; 2018 - a normal year Wed, 02 May 2018 03:10:41 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/2017-a-late-year-2018-a-normal-year.93057/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/2017-a-late-year-2018-a-normal-year.93057/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
2018 was a normal year, in spite of the word on the street, with everyone complaining about how late everything was. The...

2017 - a late year; 2018 - a normal year]]> 2016 - Another early year? Thu, 18 Feb 2016 07:23:16 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/2016-another-early-year.88003/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/2016-another-early-year.88003/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler map shows that cultivar in bloom all over the city now, though I’m not sure that’s the case.

What’s also coming out are the plums. I hate it when they do that – it’s handy for newbies to know that the only trees in bloom are cherries, and many years the blooming times differ by a few...

2016 - Another early year?]]> Strange timing continues Sat, 24 Oct 2015 20:45:31 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/strange-timing-continues.87464/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/strange-timing-continues.87464/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
Strange timing continues]]> Higgledy-piggledy blooming schedule this year Mon, 09 Mar 2015 07:16:31 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/higgledy-piggledy-blooming-schedule-this-year.85412/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/higgledy-piggledy-blooming-schedule-this-year.85412/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler Every everything is not three weeks early, so they're not coming out in the same order we carefully figured out for our Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver book. I put 'Spire' before 'Pandora' because that's what they'd been doing, but 'Pandora' has been in full bloom everywhere, and 'Spire' doesn't seem to be thinking about blooming yet, not that that's any...

Higgledy-piggledy blooming schedule this year]]> This year's blogger - Jessica Tremblay and the festival blog Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:23:56 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/this-years-blogger-jessica-tremblay-and-the-festival-blog.78066/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/this-years-blogger-jessica-tremblay-and-the-festival-blog.78066/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver, and off she went to look at trees. She writes like a pro, and you can find her stuff in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom...

This year's blogger - Jessica Tremblay and the festival blog]]> Propagating the Rare Cherry Trees of Vancouver Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:27:27 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/propagating-the-rare-cherry-trees-of-vancouver.72238/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/propagating-the-rare-cherry-trees-of-vancouver.72238/ invalid@example.com (Douglas Justice) Douglas Justice
Because of Canada’s strict plant health import regulations, flowering cherries...

Propagating the Rare Cherry Trees of Vancouver]]> 17 11 April 2008 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 03:18:58 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/11-april-2008.37450/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/11-april-2008.37450/ invalid@example.com (Douglas Justice) Douglas Justice
This week was spent anticipating. The cold weather hung on (and on) and the rains came and went and came again. Glimpses of the North Shore mountains were fleeting, but when they were visible it was always a view with fresh snow. Here, closer to sea level, you could see that some cherry buds had barely budged from their March-held positions, while other trees looked to be straining to open flowers. On my way to work in the morning (from New Westminster to UBC), I pass by...

11 April 2008]]> 3 5 May, 2012 - It's not over yet Sun, 06 May 2012 20:22:55 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/5-may-2012-its-not-over-yet.73300/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/5-may-2012-its-not-over-yet.73300/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
5 May, 2012 - It's not over yet]]> 2 15 April, 2012 - Everything's in bloom Tue, 17 Apr 2012 03:11:44 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/15-april-2012-everythings-in-bloom.72947/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/15-april-2012-everythings-in-bloom.72947/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
Joseph Lin seems to be shy this year, but he sends me some updates. Here's what he sent me yesterday:

15 April, 2012 - Everything's in bloom]]> 1 Marching in like a lion Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:26:00 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/marching-in-like-a-lion.72589/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/marching-in-like-a-lion.72589/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
I've noticed in two neighbourhoods, whole-street plantings have bloomed ahead...

Marching in like a lion]]> We're stuck Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:50:48 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/were-stuck.72467/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/were-stuck.72467/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler
And 'Accolade' are not out yet even in the West End, though again, there are blossoms to be seen but not from any distance.
View attachment 98236
It's gone back to being winter, and those trees are keeping...

We're stuck]]> So close to blooming Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:32:55 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/so-close-to-blooming.72308/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/so-close-to-blooming.72308/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler festival map set to show them in bloom today, but last night I pulled the plug and moved the date off to Thursday. But then in two locations this morning, I saw the pink colour from two blocks away. Surely that counts for in bloom! Well, I might leave the date as it is. You can see lots of blossoms on the ground in this photo, because of the cold, I'm guessing. It's just a few...

So close to blooming]]> Who's eating my trees? Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:05:47 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/whos-eating-my-trees.71912/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/whos-eating-my-trees.71912/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler my trees, and I know perfectly well who's eating them. This row of Stanley Park 'Snow Goose', planted in 2009, has two fewer trees now, thanks to the beavers. The stream to the lagoon is right close to this spot.]]> 2 30 December, 2011 - First cherries of the season Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:05:32 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/30-december-2011-first-cherries-of-the-season.71903/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/30-december-2011-first-cherries-of-the-season.71903/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler posted the first 'Autumnalis Rosea' blossoms in Richmond.

The ones in the West End have just started. Not enough colour yet to notice them unless you know where they are and go looking to see if anything's happening.

Let the season begin. Happy new year, everyone.]]> 5 16 May, 2011 - Our list has grown Tue, 17 May 2011 02:04:43 +0000 https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/16-may-2011-our-list-has-grown.68583/ https://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/16-may-2011-our-list-has-grown.68583/ invalid@example.com (wcutler) wcutler Kiku-zakura thread...

16 May, 2011 - Our list has grown]]>