Toronto cherry blossom bloom ‘on schedule.’ When to expect them at High Park

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on High Park in the coming weeks as Toronto's cherry blossoms near peak bloom season.

Many Torontonians may be wondering when the cherry blossoms in High Park will bloom.

The west-end park’s sakura trees, given to the city in 1959 by Japan’s ambassador to Canada, have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to the park every year.

Despite the warmest winter ever in the city’s history, the cherry blossom bloom cycle is “on schedule,” said Rohith Rao, fundraising and communications director at the High Park Nature Centre.

“We get questions every day from people asking us on social media when is peak bloom going to occur,” he told Global News Toronto.

“They’re really pretty to look at, and a lot of people just get a sense of enjoyment when being among the blossoms. It’s a great sign of the arrival of spring.”

Blossoms in High Park usually reach peak bloom between late April and early May, Rao said.

The blooming period begins when 20 per cent of the cherry blossoms are open and ends when the petals fall, the nature centre said on its website. Peak bloom starts when at least 70 per cent of the blossoms are open.

However, the blooming cycle is temperature dependent. In 2016, there was no peak bloom due to unpredictable weather patterns during the winter and early spring, the nature centre said.