VIDEO: Early cherry blossoms bloom possible amid warmer weather in southern Ontario

The first cherry blossoms of the year could bloom as early as Monday in Toronto and across southern Ontario as warmer weather is expected again this week.

The annual Sakura cherry blossom season typically starts in mid-spring in Ontario, and draws huge crowds to Toronto’s High Park, Kariya Park in Mississauga and Joyce Archdekin Park in Brampton.

This year’s bloom could start as early as Monday or Tuesday, as the High park buds are in “stage 5” of their growth cycle, according to cherry blossom tracking website sakurainhighpark.com. Peak bloom is expected between Wednesday and Saturday in High Park.

The website is run by Steven Joniak, affectionately known as Sakura Steve, who says the blossoms are expected to bud this week “thanks to the warmer weather we’ve been having.”

“This stage is when you can distinctly see that each of the floret stems, known as peduncles, has visibly extended out of the buds,” reads an update on the website. “You can also begin to see the florets showing bright pink and/or white tips. These tips are what the actual cherry blossom petals will be once they are ready to open.”

Depending on how warm temperatures get, cherry blossoms start to bloom in Mississauga, Toronto and across the GTA anywhere from late April, like they did in 2024, to the middle of May, as seen in 2022. Sakura trees need a minimum of 15 C to fully bloom.

High Park tends to get the most attention during cherry blossom season, but Mississauga’s Kariya Park (named after Mississauga’s sister city in Japan) offers a quiet escape to a Japanese garden and a small complement of cherry blossoms, while Brampton’s Joyce Archdekin Park has some 70 Sakura trees.