Wednesday, February 21, 2024

The Mexican Fan and Canary Island Palms of Los Angeles

 Every now and then, driving in LA, you will see a street or two lines with gigantic Mexican Fan Palm trees. If you transition from the 107 or 60 to the 10 downtown and look back and to the left, you can see one street where the trees retreat diagonally to the freeway. They stop at the 10, so you know they went farther before the freeway.


In parts of South Los Angeles, they march up non-descript streets.


In Beverly Hills, they march up Doheny and other upscale streets.

These are the remnants of the Mexican Fan Palms and Canary Island Date Palms planted for the 1932 Olympics. They are beautiful and super heavy. 

What happens if they fall? The supertall are about 20 tons of tree.

And how long do they last? They are at least 90 years old.

Well, it turns out we don't really know. These super tall trees are aberrations in the Mexican Fan Palm growth cycle. They are endemic to Baja California - however rare they are there now. We knew they would grow faster and taller if they were well watered and tended (Baja is notoriously dry.) These are mainly treated very well here.

The same is true about the Canary Island Palms - of what we know. They are less studied.

So, I guess we will learn when a tree falls on a house in Beverly Hills we will find out all the details. IN any case, they will be seeing their third Olympics in the city in 2028.

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Sometimes I despair at age. But this gives me hope.

 I mean, I don't want a child, but I think she is older than Tony Randel. Unlike Tony, she pushed this out!