High Park's cherry blossoms reach peak bloom today. Here's how long it will last
The cherry blossoms in High Park are expected to bloom right on schedule this week.
Peak bloom, which is when more than 70 per cent of the blossoms are open, is expected to begin on April 22 and last for about four to 10 days depending on the weather conditions.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
“We are on track, we are on schedule,” Rohith Rao, fundraising and communications director at the High Park Nature Centre, told CTV News Toronto last week. “Peak bloom typically happens between late April and early May and we are still on that schedule.”
Rao said that if the city has cooler temperatures during the peak bloom period people will be able to see the blossoms for a longer period of time, which is what happened last year.
“If it is warmer than the flowers progress quicker and you will have a relatively short period of peak bloom,” he said. “It typically lasts for a week and then you start to see the flower petals start falling off.
Japan’s ambassador to Canada, Toru-Hagiwara, gifted the city 2,000 Somei-Yoshino Sakura trees in 1959 on behalf of the citizens of Tokyo in appreciation of Toronto accepting re-located Japanese-Canadians following the Second World War.
The blossoms now typically draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the park every year. The blooms are a great sign of the arrival of spring, Rao said.
The blossoms are heavily dependent on the late winter and early spring temperatures. Rao said that they initially progressed quickly due to very warm temperatures.
“But then later in the week, we had really cool weather and overcast conditions so that slowed down the process a little bit,” he said.
Currently, the blossoms are stage four of the blooming process, which is when the flower stems get longer and the individual blossoms can be clearly seen. The blossoms are very vulnerable to frost at this point.
During the next stage, which happens typically four to six days before peak bloom, fluffy white Sakura blossoms emerge with each flower opening at different times.
At the final stage, stage six, peak bloom begins with the majority of blossoms open.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Statistics Canada says real GDP grew 0.2 per cent in February
Canada's GDP rose 0.2 per cent in February, driven by a rebound in transportation and warehousing, which saw the largest recorded month-to-month rise in over a year at 1.4 per cent.
BREAKING 4 dead, including infant, in wrong-way crash involving police on Ontario's Highway 401
A wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby, Ont. last night has left four people dead, including an infant, Ontario’s police watchdog says.
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Winner of US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot is an immigrant from Laos who has cancer
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III returned to public duties on Tuesday, visiting a cancer treatment charity and beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch's own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.