Trees Put Park in the Pink

It’s not exactly Washington, D.C., but Lake Balboa’s 1,600 flowering cherry trees are quite a sight right now.

For the next week or so, blossoms will continue to open, gracing the lake shore and entrance to the 160-acre Anthony C. Beilenson Park with a pink hue.

The simple flowers are making a late appearance this year, probably due to a severe December frost that dropped temperatures to 27 degrees in the Sepulveda Basin, said James Ward, who oversees city parks in the Valley.

“They’re not as showy this year,” Ward said. “They’re staggered in the way they’re opening. The blossoms are starting at the lower branches and opening toward the top branches.”

Even so, Ward said, the floral splendor attracts park visitors, including many from Japan who celebrate cherry blossom season in their homeland.

The unique West Coast variety of Japanese cherry, Pink Cloud, originates from a parent tree at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino. The ornamental tree was developed to thrive in warmer climates, yet produces the same showy effect as blossoming cherry trees in Japan and Washington, D.C.

The city planted 1,000 trees around the lake in the early- to mid-1990s, with money from a Japanese firm that has anonymously donated $300,000 to the project. An additional 600 bare-root trees were planted this year and 1,000 more are scheduled to be planted next year when the final 60 acres of the park are developed.

Once planting is completed, “When you drive down Balboa and Victory [boulevards], you’ll see the trees on the hillsides,” Ward said.

Just 5 feet tall when planted, most of the trees now stretch to a dozen feet, and some reach a height of 20. After another decade, some of the trees will top out at 30 feet, providing a large canopy of blossoms.

“It’s going to get better and better as the years pass,” Ward said. “Someday you’ll be able to picnic under the blossoms.”

To see the floral display, enter the park from Balboa Boulevard on the east side, between Burbank and Victory boulevards. The area is open from sunrise to sunset seven days a week.