Real, live, in-person guided Tree Talks and Walks

We are planning to have real live on-your-feet guided walks this year and we will be requiring pre-registration to keep the groups to a manageable size. To register, send an email to [email protected] saying for which walk(s) you are registering, and for how how many people you want to reserve a place. There will be waiting lists as required. There is no fee for these walks.

Tree Talks and Walks David Lam Park, at The Big Picnic.

April 2, 2022, Saturday noon to 1:30, and
April 2, 2022, Saturday 2:00 to 3:30
Meet at the festival tent at THE BIG PICNIC, David Lam Park (west side of the park)
Presented by Egan Davis, Manager of Parks, White Rock.

Egan is well-known among garden buffs from his previous positions at VanDusen Botanical Garden and UBC Botanical Garden, and from his previous walks. His enthusiasm always makes for an exciting walk. These walks are presented as part of The Big Picnic to celebrate the start of the festival month. When registering for these walks, be sure to note which time you want to attend.

Tree Talks and Walks Stanley Park

April 8, 2022, Friday, 2:00 to 4:00 WAIT LISTED
Meet at the ‘Akebono’ plaza where Chilco Street and Alberni Street meet to go into Stanley Park
Presented by Nina Shoroplova, author of Legacy of Trees: Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

That’s a beautiful book, and this should be a beautiful walk.

Tree Talks and Walks for Sakura Days Japan Fair at VanDusen Botanical Garden

April 9 and 10, 2022

Admission to Sakura Days Japan Fair at VanDusen Botanical Garden is by Advanced Purchased ticket only.

See https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sakura-days-japan-fair-2022-tickets-288122220317 for tickets.

Tree Talks and Walks times at VanDusen are to be confirmed, please check closer to the date.

Tree Talks and Walks Easter Parade in the West End

April 17, 2022, Sunday, 1:30 pm to 3:30pm – This is Easter Sunday WAIT LISTED
Meet at the West End Community Centre at the side entrance to the south of the building
Presented by Wendy Cutler, Cherry Scout Co-ordinator.

Wendy has been scouting and documenting the tree locations in these neighbourhoods since the festival began, and she has led several sakura tours of the area.

This walk begins with the singing of Easter Parade, accompanied by ukuleles and you! You may wear your Easter Bonnet for the occasion, and you may play your ukulele. The singing begins at 1:25. This yearly parade will be fewer people than usual, but we hope it will be festive.

Tree Talks and Walks UBC Botanical Garden

April 23, 2022, Saturday 11:00 to 12:30
Meet on the lawn next to the parking lot. Note that there is a fee to park in this lot.
Presented by Douglas Justice, Associate Director, Horticulture & Collections at UBC Botanical Garden.

This walk will feature several different cherries growing in the Peter Wharton Cherry Grove at UBC Botanical Garden, and Douglas is responsible for their being there. It’s an interesting story.

Do-it-yourself walks

If you’re not inclined to join us for the guided walks, the photos and videos below show featured sights from of some of our great walk locations. These photos and videos are from previous years. Dates, location and photographer names are in the photo names.

Virtual Tree Walk – Haiku Walk from Joy Kogawa House in Marpole

Winnipeg poet Sally Ito would have led this walk as part of her author residency at Historic Joy Kogawa House. Unable to travel west due to restrictions at the time, Sally wrote haiku to accompany locations on a self-guided walk of the Marpole neighbourhood that begins and ends at the heritage house. There are haiku for the full set of stops, one for each day of self-quarantine. Here is a map of the whole route. As it is a virtual walk, you needn’t worry about what is in bloom when.

Virtual Tree Walk – Stanley Park – early to end of April

Nina Shoroplova, author of Legacy of Trees: Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, would have led this walk in 2021. The stars of the show in Stanley Park are the grove of ‘Akebono’ on Chilco at Alberni, near the Welcome to Vancouver sign on Highway 99; the grove of ‘Akebono’ trees in the Shakespeare Garden across Pipeline Road from the Rose Garden; the allee of ‘Shirotae’ leading to the non-grafted and rare ‘Ojochin’ at the Japanese-Canadian War Memorial near the aquarium. Nina wrote four reports of her 2021 cherry tree walks in Stanley Park. The third one is here. The final week featured ‘Shiro-fugen’ and rare ‘Gyoiko’ and ‘Shujaku’.

Virtual Tree Walk – Strathcona – 2nd half of March

One of the highlight trees of this walk are the ‘Accolade’ trees on Pender between Princess and Campbell and at Strathcona Liner Park, blooming late March or early April. To see the locations, search on our Neighbourhood Map, select Strathcona neighbourhood, Accolade cultivar. Here are some photos from previous years.

Virtual Tree Walk – Downtown and West End – mid April

‘Akebono’ trees might start to open at Burrard Station at the end of March; later, the West End features ‘Shirotae’, ‘Umineko’, Sendai-shidare’, ‘Takasago’, ‘Mikuruma-gaeshi’, wrapping up with ‘Ukon’ and a flood of ‘Kanzan’. You can find the locations on our Neighbourhood Map.

Virtual Tree Walk– UBC – end of March, beginning of April

Featured here are the iconic ‘Somei-yoshino’ block on Lower Mall. You get to compare those with young infill ‘Akebono’ trees. Around the corner are two ‘Shirotae’ outside the Fraser Parkade. Walk a bit to the Chan Centre to see two more magnificent ‘Somei-yoshino’. The first video features several cultivars at the Peter Wharton Cherry Grove at UBC Botanical Garden.

Virtual Tree Walk – Queen Elizabeth Park – early to mid-April

There are many exotic and native trees at Queen Elizabeth Park’s arboretum. Founded in 1949, it contains tree species from around the world. Cherries you should see starting in April include ‘Somei-yoshino’, ‘Akebono’, ‘Shirotae’ and ‘Umineko’. Dates, location, cultivar and photographer names are in the photo names.