Once again, the festival attempts to guess the unpredictable - we schedule walks six months ahead of time, hoping to catch the peak blooming times around the city. Fortunately, these locations all have historical or cultural features of interest in addition to the blossoms, and our leaders will be sure to make the trip worth your while. As was mentioned here previously, Cherry Blossom Viewing is a cool sport - please dress for it!

•  April 4, 2013, Thursday, 10:00am to noon  

• Meet at the lobby of Hyatt Regency Vancouver at 655 Burrard Street 

• Led by Joseph Lin, director of the Green Club of BC.

Joseph Lin knows more about Vancouver street trees that maybe anyone, and his enthusiasm is infectious.

Tree Talks and Walks - VanDusen Botanical Garden

• April 6, 2013, Saturday, 1:30pm to 3:00pm

• Include a tour of the garden as part of your Sakura Days experience. Meet at the Guides' table just inside the Garden. Note that paid garden admission is required for this walk

• Presented by VCBF and VanDusen volunteer Anne Eng

Anne Eng has been a keen, energetic Cherry Scout almost from the beginning, and is familiar with the cherry trees in VanDusen from her guiding experience there.

• April 7, 2013, Sunday, 10:00am to 11:30am

• Walk in Strathcona - Oppenheimer Park. Meet on the park side of the field house on Powell, between Jackson and Dunlevy

• Presented by arborist David Tracey. David is executive director of Tree City, a non-profit organization "helping people and trees grow together". David also leads workshops on organic fruit tree selection and care.

This park is the site of "Legacy Sakura", trees planted in 1977 to commemorate the centennial of the first generation of Japanese who came to settle in Canada. The walk will include the history of the trees and many other points of interest within a six block circumference of the park.

Tree Talks and Walks - VanDusen Botanical Garden

• April 7, 2013, Sunday, 1:30pm to 3:00pm

• Include a tour of the garden as part of your Sakura Days experience. Meet at the Guides' table just inside the Garden. Note that paid garden admission is required for this walk

• Presented by VCBF and VanDusen volunteer Anne Eng

Anne Eng has been a keen, energetic Cherry Scout almost from the beginning, and is familiar with the cherry trees in VanDusen from her guiding experience there.

Tree Talk (not a Walk) in the evening: Blossom Biology Workshop

• April 11, 2013, Thursday, 7:30pm to 9pm

• Classroom at VanDusen Botanical Garden, in the new building, end of hallway to the left

• Presented by Douglas Justice, Associate Director and Curator of Collections, UBC Botanical Garden & Centre for Plant Research

Douglas brings the cherries to you! Learn how to identify our cherry cultivars. Registration is requested for this workshop, as seating is limited: send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Tree Talks and Walks UBC

• April 13, 2013, Saturday, 10:00am to 11:30am

• Meet outside Fraser Parkade by the Asian Centre, just east of the Nitobe Memorial Garden at 6440 Memorial Rd.

• Presented by Douglas Justice, Associate Director and Curator of Collections, UBC Botanical Garden & Centre for Plant Research

The walk includes cherry viewing along Lower Mall and the surrounding area to see UBC's 'Somei-yoshino' and other flowering cherries.

• April 13, 2013, Saturday, 2:30pm to 4:00pm

• Meet at the Rose Arbour at the Lower Rose Garden, Pipeline Rd, Stanley Park

• Presented by Park Board arborist, Bill Stephen.

This spot will be a focal point to discover many of the beautiful and unusual ornamental trees and plants in Stanley Park's Shakespeare Garden. It will also discuss some of the history of the park and how the Park Board balances demands of the public with the need for open green space.

Tree Talks and Walks Queen Elizabeth Park

• April 14, 2013, Sunday, 1:30pm to 3:00pm

• Queen Elizabeth Park, meet at the parking lot (33rd Ave and Cambie) under the west end cherry trees

• Presented by Alex Downie, Supervisor of Vancouver’s Neighborhood Parks, and former Supervisor of Queen Elizabeth Park and Bloedel Conservatory.

A guided tree walk highlighting the many exotic and native trees at Queen Elizabeth Park's arboretum, founded in 1949, contains tree species from around the world. This walk will focus on the ornamental qualities and garden-worthiness of the wide palette of trees we can grow in Vancouver.

Tree Talks and Walks in the West End and Stanley Park

• April 27, 2013, Saturday, 1:00pm to 4:00pm

• Meet at the A-maze-ing Laughter sculpture at Davie and Denman

• Presented by Wendy Cutler, VCBF 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

After briefly checking out a few trees in the West End, this walk will head into Stanley Park at the heronry, then thru the Rhododendron Garden to see two unusual cherry cultivars (and lots of camellias and rhododendrons), then back to the West End for a few more cherries. If there is time, we may carry on to a grove of lovely cherries at the Japanese Memorial near the Aquarium. This is the longest of the walks, but it's never more than ten minutes from transportation.