Photo by Connie Li
The ultimate cherry blossoms quiz
The stunning sight of blooming cherry blossoms signals the start of spring at UBC’s Vancouver campus. How much do you know about these iconic trees?
Each spring, Vancouver comes alive with brilliant pink and white blossoms that capture the public imagination — and the UBC campus is no exception. Students, Vancouverites, and visitors alike gather to behold cherry trees in bloom and take photos beneath their branches.
Flowering cherry trees are native to Japan, where they are called sakura, and were first brought to Vancouver in the 1920s and 30s. The very first trees, gifts from the mayors of Kobe and Yokohama, were planted around the cenotaph in Stanley Park as part of the Japanese Canadian War Memorial. The first half of the 20th century saw many donations of cherry trees from Japanese Canadians (UBC alum and author Fiona Tinwei Lam (BA’86, MFA’02) shares a poignant story of one such donation), and the Vancouver Park Board began planting them on Vancouver’s streets. At UBC, they not only line streets and decorate campus, but they are also cultivated in the UBC Botanical Garden and Nitobe Memorial Garden.
You’ve surely admired them, but how much do you know about these iconic trees? It’s time to put your knowledge to the test.
