In Japanese they’re called “Sakura” but English speakers know them as Cherry Blossoms. They are only in bloom for a short period every year. For residents of Vancouver & Victoria they signify the end of winter and that summer is just around the corner. It’s a very special time of the year.
I’m looking out the window at the remaining 3 feet of a 5 foot snow berm I piled up out of the driveway this spring. You lotus-eaters get stuffed.
…remaining 3 feet of a 5 foot snow berm…
Which, in Saskatchewan, signifies that Summer is just around the corner.
some one keeps a chart of the DC bloom
and this year ,the bloom will not be early ..
cold weather , dontchaknow..
anyone got a chart for Vancouver??
A hearty pat on the back for whomever decided to plant those trees.
Our neighbourhood in North York has similar trees – only they bloom about six weeks later. Damn snow still isn’t completely gone.
Take heart prairie dwellers. We only have 4 to 8 weeks until green grass and tree blossoms, depending on the weather of course.
I was in Burnaby in April of last year for my son’s wedding and everything was in full bloom then including all those gorgeous azaleas. That was late April so if that picture is current I would think we are seeing an earlier spring bloom this year.
Ditto here, and I second that motion.
Ha haa! I love living here. A couple of weeks back my wife and I were at a pub to watch a Vancouver – Calgary game and it was beautiful, sunny, and maybe 8 degrees here while it was a freaking blizzard in Calgary.
It’s almost time to do the old prank call… Dial up any number in Toronto and ask them whether their daffodils have come in yet!
They last for a very short but intense time. Dogwoods follow shortly after, also short and intense. Daffodils are all up at our house in delta. Some of the azaleas are blooming as well. Will have to cut the lawn for the second time this weekend.
Here it’s the Mayflower. Same intense olfactory sensation and beautifully white. Once those appear everyone knows it’s just another 6 weeks of spring snow storms, rain and flooding!
About time too. The SAD has been absolutely freaking brutal this year! Thirty seven hours of sunlight in December.
Looks like 16th Avenue, facing west.
By the way, Robert, the traffic cams. Could you please change “Iron Workers Memorial Bridge” back to its rightful name, “Second Narrows Bridge”? Typical NDP pandering, that.
Then to really rub it in,comes the annual Victoria flower count.
Yeah,there’s a reason after I left Manitoba in 1966,that I never went back.
As you get older you realise there’s nothing heroic about freezing your ass off half the year if you don’t have to.
Oh,and mosquitoes,which used to eat us alive in Manitoba every Summer, we don’t have any in Kelowna,or Vancouver.
I took the photo yesterday.
Here in White Rock we have cherry blossoms, rhododendron, daffodils and tulips all going full tilt. We consider this normal. Just another average day in White Rock. We try not to let the Easterners (that’s anyone who lives east of Abbotsford) get too depressed by telling them that.
It’s tough, but someone has to enjoy it.
Beautiful. Do they smell nice?
You’re a cruel man Robert. [Though I’m sure you mean well.]
Re: Cherry Blossoms.
I had a girlfriend like that. She blossomed, but not for long. As she walked out the door, she said she was done flowering, and she was now “leaving.”
And if I tell you her name was Cherie, you won’t be-leave me.
I always snicker how the people of Vancouver and Victoria refer to the November-March period is called ‘winter’ like they somehow understand what the word ‘winter’ means.
Considering it seems like a substantial portion of the people of Vancouver originated from east of the Rockies, I think they understand perfectly well the meaning of winter which is why they live in Vancouver. I certainly know the season after 5 years in Winterpeg and several years in northern Ontario. I remind myself with occasional mid-winter business trips to the prairies. But my kids are dumb like rocks about that word.
Outside of Vancouver I think winter came a couple of weeks early this year. Can’t recall a year where the Coquihalla has been shut down so often and likewise for the other highway routes due avalanche clearing.
PS… nice pics Robert. Was at Queen E park today and it was kinda sparse for blooming trees and floral displays. I think they’re a bit late.
A beautiful city. Lived there for a short time (decades ago) and go down couple times a year to visit relatives. My favorite part of the visit is always when I see it in the rear view mirror as the wife and I are heading N over the PT. Mann bridge. We would much rather have 5 months of sub zero temperature than live in one of the prettiest cities in the world and wouldn’t trade all those pretty trees for the simple pleasure of isolation, seeing the stars on a clear night and having it so quiet at night that we could hear a pin drop, or lately, hearing the cat fart. Everything in life is a trade off I guess. It would certainly be a dull world if we all had the same taste in life.
Robert, when I lived in Vancouver I used to send pictures like that to people I knew out east. However, in the southern interior of BC today it was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70’s and I’m worried about my apricot tree flowering too soon. Do miss the flowers of Vancouver as the rhodadendron’s by Lost Lagoon in Stanley park are beautiful in April/May. Still, given the rarity of moonbats where I currently live I can forego the flowers.
One of the downsides of not watching TV, not reading newspapers and not listening to the radio is that this ridiculous 4 day weekend comes as a complete surprise. Stuck in a hospital working while the majority of hospital staff seem to be absent.