Here's when High Park cherry blossoms will reach peak bloom this year
The weather is finally catching up to the calendar date in Toronto, which is great news for people who like the outdoors — and even better news for plants.
High Park's famous sakura cherry blossom trees are well on track to dazzle the public in a roughly five-day-long peak bloom period that experts predict will be "fantastic," thanks to recent temperatures.
Sakura in High Park is the authority on all things related to the west-end park's storied groves, which celebrate their 60th anniversary this year. The website is basically never wrong about when peak bloom will happen, and it just issued its first concrete prediction for 2019 this week.
Tree fans who aren't afraid to wade through the trash heap that is Toronto's Instagram community should mark the second week of May in their calendars — in particular May 7 to May 12.
"Toronto had finally had a good round of actual spring-like weather, with warm temperatures into the teens, and bright sunny days," reads Sakura in High Park's most recent blog post.
"These ideal conditions have helped the trees to move into the next stage of development."
"After seeing the progress in the park, and noting the upcoming weather forecasts for the next couple of weeks, I can now offer some more accurate dates with a good level of confidence on the observations to date," it continues, pointing to a mild 14-day weather outlook.
"This leads me to predict that the first cherry blossoms will begin to bloom in early May, with a peak bloom (70 per cent of blossoms opened) to occur between May 7-12."
***Attention ***New for 2019, the Cherry Blossoms will be a car-free blooming experience! There are thousands of visitors to High Park during our peak bloom days, and to maintain a safe experience for all, the park will be closed to vehicles during this time (day and night). pic.twitter.com/wmkapnOeVf
— 11 Division (@TPS11Div) April 17, 2019
Keep your eye on Sakura in High Park for more updates over the next couple of weeks to know when, exactly, peak bloom starts — and please note that cars are not allowed in High Park this year during cherry blossom season.
Control yourselves, horrible flower stans, or you might be banned from the park in future years as well.
Hector Vasquez
Join the conversation Load comments