Vancouver’s cherry blossoms begin to bloom

Vancouver’s cherry blossoms are starting to sprout — finally some evidence that spring really is here.

But arborist Francis Klimo explains that not all cherry blossoms are the same and won’t bloom at the same time.

If you live in Kitsilano, you’ll probably see the little buds making their debut after the late-season cold snap and snow, which has delayed some of the early-season blossoms.

“Most of the cherries that we grow in Vancouver can tolerate a lot colder temperatures. And, you know, they’d be maybe a little bit later to come out if that cold weather is sort of prolonged,” Douglas Justice, the associate director of horticulture at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Botanical Garden, said.

Justice says some of the blossoms are a little late right now, but Vancouverites can likely expect the full blooms of pink and white by April.

Related Article: Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival to happen as planned: organizers

“There’s nothing to worry about. We’re probably anywhere from ten days to two weeks behind. But cherries have a habit of kind of catching up. So in, you know, probably in two weeks, it’ll seem a little bit closer to normal,” Justice said.

The executive director of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival says they’re ready to celebrate their 18th year, and keeping track of the progress of the blossoms.

“Some of them are coming in a little bit later this year. Luckily, our festival starts on the first, so we still have some time,” Michael Dove said.

“We’re hearing that accolades are coming out now, which is one of the cultivars. And then we had someone send in a report yesterday that Cubanos, which are like sort of the most popular and the most prevalent throughout the city.”

Klimo says that admiring cherry blossoms has been a tradition in Vancouver for a long time.

“In the early1930s, the two mayors of Japanese cities, Kobe and Yokohama, presented about 500 cherry trees, Japanese cherry trees, to Vancouver Park, brought…as a gift for Japanese Canadians who served in World War One. That kind of propelled the idea of planting flowering trees in boulevards,” he said.

Klimo says that the trees are impacted by things like the weather.

“They can be influenced by various other factors, right? By, you know, how the weather comes in and changes. So it depends. Like I said, trees are living creatures so there’s a lot of variables at play,” Klimo said.

Dove says the festival has taken on a deeper meaning in recent years.

“We learned last year, we were seeing record crowds, bigger crowds at all the events than we had ever seen in our history… people kept saying we missed being in community, we missed being around people. And also, I think when people couldn’t do anything during lockdown but go outside and walk around, like our connection to nature, or our connection to the ecosystem of the city,” Dove said.