Last Sunday I participated in a Cherry Tree Talk and Walk in the West End and Downtown which was part of the annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. Wendy Cutler, VCBF "Cherry Scout" Co-ordinator, led us on a 3-hour tour pointing out where all the different types of cherry blossoms were currently in bloom. Because I have so many photos, I'm going to split this post into 3 parts.

The 'Akenono' cherries were all gone at the Burrard Skytrain station and so we took a slightly different route than normal to see more interesting cherries in bloom.

‘Amanogawa’ (heaven’s river)

'Amanogawa' at Bute x Alberni St

'Amanogawa' cherry blossoms open upward and are fragrant!


I didn't hear what type of cherry this one was which was often the case because it was such a big group and I got lost in the back when I took too long to take photos. lol

 


On the corner of Broughton and Barclay, there is this beautiful cherry. Unfortunately the tree looks a little diseased which happens frequently when cherries are grafted and many of the tree in Vancouver are. Again I don't know the type. Can anyone can identify the ones I've missed?




Directly across it there was another tree. I'm not sure if it is a cherry or a plum tree because they flower around the same time and sometimes it's hard to tell! But it looks lovely all the same.



Jervis and Robson, a long row of 'Shirotae' cherries which have stunning white blossoms.



Along Hastings there are a lot of  'Akebono' cherries but most of the petals have fallen. This photo was taken at Hastings and Broughton. You can see the long, long line of people following Wendy!


Along the seawall, we have more Akebono cherries.

Continue on to Part 2 here!

There will be two more walks taking place this weekend one at Stanley Park on April 21, 2012, Saturday, 2:00pm to 3:30pm and one at Queen Elizabeth Park on April 22, 2012, Sunday, 1:00pm to 2:30pm. So make sure you go to one of them to see the cherry blossoms before they all fade away!