High Park’s cherry blossoms are eagerly anticipated by Toronto residents as spring approaches, and it seems like this year’s buds may emerge earlier than expected.
The yearly cherry blossom photography crew, Sakura in High Park, has estimated that this year’s bloom time will go from the end of April to the beginning of May.
The cherry blossom buds have reportedly shown encouraging signs of growth since my previous visit a week ago, per a recent blog article on Sakura. The buds have gotten bigger, rounder, and fuller, indicating that things are developing as they should at this time of year.
The exciting discovery of green tips on some buds, which show they have already started to advance to the following phases of development, is mentioned later in the text.
Despite a hint of speculation from Sakura in High Park, they anticipated that the forthcoming double-digit temperatures and warmer weather this week may cause the buds to begin blossoming faster and early.
The “Sakura Project” got its start in 1959 when Toru-Hagiwara, the Japanese ambassador to Canada, gave 2,000 Japanese Somei-Yoshino Sakura to Toronto residents as a thank you for helping Japanese-Canadian refugees after the Second World War.
In keeping with tradition, the City of Toronto and the Japanese Consulate-General have planted Sakura cherry blossoms along High Park Trail and in the vicinity of Grenadier Pond. There were many of these trees initially planted, and every year more are put all across the city.
The Sakura High Park group is requesting that visitors refrain from pulling, shaking, sitting, or climbing on the tree trunks in order to protect the trees from any damage.
Please visit this website for further details and updates on this year’s cherry blossoms in High Park.