Photo: Wendy Cutler
Cherry Blossoms have begun blooming across Vancouver.
Linda Poole, executive director of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival said one of their Cherry Scouts, Wendy Cutler, shot a photo of one of the first blossoms at Burrard Station on Saturday.
Poole said the "very showy" plum blossoms bloom first and are often mistaken for cherry blossoms but the festival has a guide to help people tell the difference.
Cherry Scout Joseph Lin said there are 12,000 plum trees in Vancouver and are part of the first of three waves of flowers along with Whitcomb, which have five petals and can better tolerate the cold.
Lin said Akebono or Daybreak cherry trees bloom from about April 1 to April 14 and are almost twice size of first wave flowers. He said there are 8,000 Akebono trees in the City of Vancouver and these are the types of trees found around Burrard Station.
The third wave Kwanzan flowers bloom during the last 10 days in April and have an average of 25 to 35 petals with 10,000 trees across the city, said Lin.
Lin is also the founder and president of Green Club of BC, which offers guided cherry blossom walks in Mandarin.
There are 54 cultivars of cherry trees in Vancouver, according to the VCBF and the blossoms are arriving just in time for the first day of spring on March 20.
Blue skies and #cherryblossom, happy March #Vancouver ! pic.twitter.com/K24Im43ta0
— DJ Horemans (@image_dj) March 11, 2018
