Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea'

Yesterday I trekked several kilometres along city sidewalks and seawall to reach my destination: a small stand of Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea' at Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park. Many thanks to my gardening friend, Meighan, for guiding me (with a Google map) to the right spot. Be sure to check out Meighan's glorious photographs of these sakura under blue skies. (After you view them, I'm sure you'll understand why the long walk was so worthwhile.)

Recommended reading & viewing:

Winter beauty: Prunus x subhirtella 'Autumnalis'

Autumnalis Rosea - discussion on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums

Cherry Blossoms at Lost Lagoon - Meighan's photos on Flickr

Beyond the balcony: Westie Walk photos

One photo from each l-o-n-g walk with Piper during the past two weeks. Sweet, patient, very bored Piper -- I took many more than one photo per walk.

Photos, top to bottom:

Magnolia (March 13th)
Euphorbia (March 15th)
Cherry blossoms (March 17th)
Magnolia, Magnolia stellata (March 18th)
Cherry plum, Prunus cerasifera (March 19th)
Cherry blossoms (March 21st)
Cherry blossoms (March 23rd)
Bleeding heart, Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' (March 24th)
Magnolia (March 25th)
Magnolia (March 26th)

Weather forecast

Morning skies overcast with pink, 
Scattered forsythia flurries in late afternoon,

Followed by clumps of snowdrops.

One hundred percent probability of spring throughout the day.

Hanami

Throughout April, nearly every day I spent a few moments enjoying the cherry blossoms. Here's what I looked at and photographed this morning for .... at least 20 minutes, according to the camera time stamp:

Viewing sakura (hanami) is always sweet but especially this tree because it's in a very strategic location: in front of my workplace so I walk by it coming and going. A bit of beauty, grace and resilience to begin and end days that are "messy" (unpredictable at best) in the middle.

Hanami #5: White Bouquet

Cultivar & variety identification is tricky for a novice like me and the research is time-consuming but oh so fascinating. With help from the excellent UBC Botanical Gardens Forums & the Cherry Scouts, I learned to distinguish between a cherry blossom & a plum blossom. Soon I hope to return to this and previous posts and tell you exactly what Sakuras we've been viewing. For now, I will think of this cherry blossom as one of my favourites because of colour (white with traces of pink), inflorescence and, perhaps most of all, how it looks against the clear blue sky.