There’s a rolling sea of color in some Canadian cities, and it’s a sure sign of spring: the cherry trees are in bloom.
Toronto’s High Park is famous for its canopy of blooming Sakura trees, which are now officially in peak bloom, according to the High Park Nature Centre.
“This means that more than 70 percent of the cocoons are now open,” said park spokesperson Rohith Rao. In vancouverThe pink “kanzan” flowers have already captivated visitors.
While most trees will have a peak flowering period, how long it lasts depends on location and weather conditions. Once the flowers are open, they are fragile to the elements.
“Hot, unstable weather means we can have shorter flowering periods. Cold and calm weather can extend that period,” Rao said. The typical flowering period is only four to 10 days. Even under ideal conditions, the season can be short.
The abundant flowers attract hundreds of thousands of people to the Toronto park each year, and there is even a “Cherry Blossom Hotline” for people to call and receive the latest news. The nature center monitors flowers, predicts peak blooms, and tracks annual cherry blossom trends throughout the city.
Flower development is a temperature-sensitive process. Trees will flower early when warm weather encourages them, while colder conditions will delay flowering.
A woman walks past cherry blossom trees in Centennial Park in Toronto on Monday, April 22, 2024. (Frank Gunn / The Canadian Press)
unpredictable flowers
Vancouver has more than 43,000 cherry trees. But this year, many of the pink flowers landed on the ground before people could enjoy them.
“Our Akebono, which is a cultivar… came a little early,” said Andrea Arnot, executive director of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. The tree bloomed two weeks early after a period of record warm weather in March. Then, the petals fell to the ground quickly.
“They used to do the same thing pretty well and come out predictably,” said festival founder Linda Poole. “Now, with climate change, this year was the most challenging.”
Where do they come from?
The trees can be found in cities across the country and many of them were gifts from Japan. In Vancouver in the early 1930s, the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama presented the park board with 500 Japanese cherry trees to be planted at the Japanese Cenotaph in Stanley Park, honoring Japanese Canadians who served in the First World War. . Years later, trees were planted along the city’s boulevards.
In Toronto, the first trees were planted in 1959 during an event led by Japanese-Canadian leaders and community members with the vision of building a Japanese garden in a public park.
After much fundraising, the Japanese ambassador to Canada delivered 2,000 sakura trees to Toronto on behalf of the citizens of Tokyo. They were planted in recognition of Toronto accepting relocated Japanese-Canadians after World War II.
Since then, viewers have enjoyed the annual flowers.
“They are magnificent. The aroma and fragrance of the sakura cherry blossoms is just incredible,” said Alice Benlolo, who was visiting the trees at York University in Toronto.
“With all the political negativity that exists,” said another visitor, Yoram Rostas. “How nice it is to come take a break.”