Pink Canopy – Vancouver’s Cherry Blossoms
A pink quilt of fluffy snow has fallen on the City of Vancouver, as it does yearly during Vancouver’s cherry blossom season. Held in low trees adorning the boulevards, the pink blossoms range in hue and shape. They arrive in staggered intervals, as the different varieties of ornamental cherry trees bloom. Now, in the late days of our pink winter, the blossoms have begun to leave the trees, dusting our streets, lawns and cycle paths with pink flakes.
But the city has not always had a pink spring. Vancouver’s cherry blossom trees were first added in the 1930s when they were given to Vancouver as a gift from Japan. The majority of those early trees were placed in Stanley Park around the Japanese Monument. The monument commemorates the sacrifice of the Japanese Canadian soldiers in WWI.
Since that initial plant, the ornamental cherry tree has proven to be an excellent, low maintenance, boulevard shrub. With over 43,000 flowering cherry and plums on city property, the pink perennials now represent 22% of the urban canopy in Vancouver. This is down from the early 1990s when they were as high as 38% of the boulevard trees.
Outside of Stanley Park, most trees in public spaces are foreign imports. In fact, only 2% of the trees on our boulevards qualify as native to the west coast. Cedars, firs, hemlocks and red alders are not ideal for shade, root control and or power lines. The city arborist, a position established in 1961, decided early that a mix of short, sturdy flowering deciduous trees were the best option for our streets.
In our pink mix, the ‘Kwanzan’ or ‘Kanzan’ is the most prominent cherry tree. Their pink cloud blooms are an Instagram favourite. Sadly, many of these trees are reaching full maturity and may die over the next decade; their life cycle is much shorter than that of the domestic giants found in Stanley Park. To maintain our pink canopy, the Akebono, another ornamental cherry tree, will most likely replace the Kwanzans. The Akebono is now the favoured cherry because of how well it grows in the west coast climate.
One of the most impressive cherry canopies is along the 10th Street bike path between Fraser and Commercial. Try to find time this week to take a ride along the pink path. And remember to keep an adequate space from the bike in front of you to maintain your social distance.
Fun Fact: The City of Vancouver has planted over 125,000 trees since 2010. The vigorous planting schedule is a key part of improving the urban canopy, a core goal in our ’Greenest City’ Action Plan.
