Sakura Watch, April 25, 2015 - buds swell as the weather warms after a week-long cold-snap that seemed to have slowed down the sakura bud development with some areas of the park. The grove of trees by the sports fields are still the farther along and have the biggest, most swollen buds at the moment. This area historically has shown the earliest blossoms the last few years, and I expect the trend to continue this year again.

The largest grove of trees that are located on the big hill with the winding paved path that leads to Grenadier Pond is in a close second with a majority of buds on the upper half of the hill showing larger, greener and more swelling in their sizes. However, the buds closer to the pond and along the path are a bit more behind with less swelling and still showing more of a teardrop shape to them.

The sakura // cherry blossom trees near the High Park Zoo and Adventure Playground are still trailing behind as the furthest behind with the majority of their buds still in the teardrop shape and showing only green tips as opposed to full round green buds as seen in other parts of the park. This shouldn't be a worry of course, as this area tends only to be a day or so behind the other trees once they do bloom - and that gives us 1 or 2 more days to enjoy them!

So now that the weather is starting to warm up - again - here's to hoping that mother nature will offer her sun-kissed best wishes on the trees and help them develop further. Now we are only a few weeks away but I know for many of the sakura // cherry blossom fans out there that this time still seems like an eternity!

Hope everyone enjoys this sunny weekend and watch for more updates early next week!