Pasadena - City or Garden?

Mexican Fan Palms - Wall-to-wall

Mexican Fan Palms are L.A.'s Signature Palms.  They line hundreds and hundreds of residential streets throughout Southern California, and can exceed 100 feet in height.  They are native to this region.

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Lush Desert 

 

 

The San Gabriel Valley, where we are, is one of many distinct microclimates found throughout Los Angeles County. Almost all of the rain falls in Winter over a period of 2-3 months, Spring and Fall are moderately warm and fairly dry, and Summers are very hot for about 3 months.  The air can be very dry, especially when offshore winds (like the Santa Ana winds) dominate.  For this reason, desert plants thrive here.


Spring is coming

Are Non-Native Palmtennas invasive and becoming naturalized in So-Cal?

Non-Native Date Palmtenna Specimen

If you are a connoisseur of plantenas, a sort of hybridized mutation of large trees commonly used in landscaping, you will probably agree that this is one of the most spectacular palmtenna specimens to-date.  At least it's the most beautiful and perfect one I've ever seen.

Taller than its cousin, the Phoenix Dactylifera, the typical date palm of the southland and low deserts, its fronds are also significantly shorter than those of its cousin.  But if you are a southern california resident, wouldn't you agree that it is much healthier looking than some of the specimens one might see in the Inland Empire, along the I-10 corridor?!

This is the first specimen I see in an urban setting, near residential areas.  Palmtennas appear out of nowhere, like a giant mushrooms, but only for their development to then be frozen in time, with no further measurable growth. Are they borg equivalent of vegetation?

Unlike normal palms and trees, they do not produce oxygen, but contribute to the health of cellular phone networks, allowing bars to grow on your cell phone screen, as if by magic!

What an interesting and useful mutation...