Sakura Watch May 10, 2019 - Peak bloom has begun in High Park! Today I attempted to try a Facebook LIVE update by walking through the park and showing everyone the first day of the peak bloom! My hopes was it would be a faster and easier way to share without all the filming, editing and shooting photos that I was going to reserve for tomorrow’s visit.

Well, lets just the results were less than ideal. As in, did I shoot this with a 1998 dollar store web cam? It was an experiment, and one I won’t be repeating anytime soon. Here are the few salvagable screenshots I could capture from the footage:

Peak Bloom has begun in High Park!

On the plus side, nearly all the trees were now displaying 70% or more of open cherry blossoms! So my prediction was correct and now we can all fully enjoy the bloom throughout the Park over this Mother’s Day weekend. Here’s an overview of the average percentage of open blossoms in each area of High Park:

Sports Fields (near Bloor St entrance) now at 75-90% bloom

High Park Trail (Cherry Hill) (near Grenadier Restaurant) now at 75-85% bloom

By Grenadier Pond & Dock now at 60-80% bloom

Children’s Playground / High Park Zoo now at 50-70% bloom

With rain Sunday, Saturday may be best day to view

Currently the weather forecast is calling for rain on both Mother’s Day Sunday and also Monday. However, Saturday is shaping up to be a gorgeous, perfect day to really enjoy the blossoms, so if you can make tomorrow it could be the best day this season.

With the rain comes the uncertainty of how it will affect the delicate blossom petals. If its short periods of light rain, and overcast skies, then they will all fare very well and continue to bloom for day to come. But if heavier rains and winds come into play, then they could potentially knock down some of more of the petals. This will be big question to see what happens come Monday and Tuesday after this weather passes.

But don’t get discouraged, as the weather has been both unpredictable and changing on a whim. Also, there is always the chance the trees will hold on to their blooms into next week.

Complete Peak Bloom update coming tomorrow

Tomorrow, Saturday May 11th, I will be back in the park and filming and photographing a more complete update on the peak bloom. Watch for better photos and video tomorrow!

Reminder - Road Closures During Cherry Blossom Season

High Park will prohibit any vehicle form entering the Park during the peak bloom (see my special report about the ban and my Maps & Directions for alternative options). TTC Wheel-Trans will be the ONLY exception - no one else will be allowed to drive into the park until the cherry blossom season ends. The City will announce when the park will re-open to vehicular traffic.

So you’re only options are to walk, bike or take TTC. I know and understand that there are some people who will be impacted by this, and this is the first year the City has done this, so there will inevitably be some lessons learned. In the meantime, they do encourage those that there are 14 other locations throughout the city that people can experience the park without any vehicle bans or crowds as large as High Park is expected to have.