Sakura Watch, May 1, 2014 - More buds begin to swell into the next stage with the highest amount on the Sakura trees located next to Grenadier Pond. Though it is an extremely positive sign of the progress, there are still many buds that are lagging behind.

Another interesting observation this year is I'm seeing many more elongated buds instead of the more rounded, swelling buds. When comparing to last year photos, there is a noticeable difference in the number of buds that swelled versus elongated buds, with this year showing the regular opposite pattern of the elongated thin buds outnumbering the rounder swollen buds.

Hopefully, this is only an unusual side effect of our long, cold winter and not the sign of a lower number of blossoms overall. I'll be keeping a closer watch on these in the next couple weeks to help all of us better understand how the blossom development will evolve in 2014.