Cherry blossoms and magnolias bloom across Hamilton, with peak viewing for some this weekend
CBC
Cherry blossoms and star magnolias will be eye candy for people out and about in the Hamilton area this weekend, according to a curator with the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Burlington, Ont.
"The cherries should be around peak bloom," said Alex Henderson, RBG's curator of living collections.
Henderson said this winter was unusually warm, which has extended the local bloom season.
"Everything's definitely early this year," he told CBC Hamilton on Wednesday.
"The crocuses bloomed 23 days earlier this year which is kind of a record," he said, "because it was so warm in the ground and it never really froze."
He said what normally blooms around this time of year includes:
Saucer magnolias will bloom in the next week or so, he said, and late-season magnolias will follow.
Other blooms to look out for in the coming weeks are crabapples, lilacs, irises, peonies and roses.
Cherry blossoms can be found in at the RBG's Arboretum, Rock and Laking gardens as well as Gage Park, Bayfront Park, Centennial Park in Dundas and other sites scattered around the region.
Ecology and horticulture experts previously told CBC News the early blooms are related to our increasingly warming planet.
According to data from the CBC Climate Dashboard, most major cities in Canada saw higher-than-average minimum temperatures over the last 30 days.
Of the 48 cities CBC analyzed, only 13 had lower-than-average temperatures. The highest temperatures compared to the historical average were found in Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Windsor.
Henderson said if there are earlier blooms followed by bad weather — like this past rainy, windy Wednesday — it can create a domino effect, since it could blow away some blooms and affect pollinators.
WATCH: RBG curator offers advice to photographers and gardeners
St. Jude’s Anglican Church in Iqaluit has fallen on tough financial times.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a large shuffle of deputy ministers and senior public servants in a shake-up at the top of the public service that has long been expected around Ottawa.
Alberta's declining COVID-19 vaccination rate is sparking more concern as it becomes clear how uptake in the province compares to other parts of the country.
Drivers faced treacherous road conditions Friday morning as tempuratures started to drop below freezing following a night of rain.
A cold front is sweeping through the Greater Toronto Area Friday morning, according to a special weather statement by Environment Canada.
In the wake of Calgary's council kicking off a process to repeal the city's blanket rezoning policy, the corporation responsible for administering significant federal housing money warns the changes could put funding for new housing at risk.
Residents of an apartment building in St. John's are finding their footing again after a fire burned through the complex leaving most without anything in October.
A new program aimed at providing employment advice for workers facing layoffs at Algoma Steel has been launched in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont..
Even if Samuel Provo-Benoit doesn’t get the present he dearly wants in time for Christmas — a kidney and pancreas transplant to beat the Type 1 diabetes that’s steadily destroying his body — he has something else to celebrate.
A claim by New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt that petroleum refiners will be paying the $1 million per week cost of a gasoline price cut that her government orchestrated last weekend does not appear to be unfolding that way.
Sonia Bélanger, junior health minister and the minister responsible for senior and social services, is expected to be sworn in as early as Friday as Quebec's new health minister, according to sources at Radio-Canada.
A growing number of Manitoba's MRI machines now use artificial intelligence, with a plan to have more than half using the technology by spring.
A mobile unit the Saskatchewan government bought in 2002 for providing mammograms to Saskatchewan women will soon retire.