Palms in the Bay Area

Oct 28, 2013

Canary Island date palms, like the ones in the photos, are being planted on each end of the Bay Bridge.
Canary Island date palms, like the ones in the photo above, are being planted on each end of the Bay Bridge. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Thirty Canary Island date palms will create a line of tall trees on either end of the Bay Bridge, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. Eight of them were planted on the east side last week.

Reporter Michael Cabanatuan spoke to Donald Hodel, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Los Angeles County, about the trees' suitability for the Bay Area's fog, wind, salt air and water. The Bay Area climate, Hodel said, is not unlike that of the Canary Islands. The palms are well suited to grow in the San Francisco-Oakland area.

"But because of their quintessential look, it's hard for some people to get over the fact that palms are not just for the tropics," he said.

CalTrans senior landscape architect Clive Endress said the trees make a connection from the bridge to the shore.

"We decided we'd do it with trees to emphasize the start of the bridge and the end of the bridge," Endress said.

By Jeannette E. Warnert
Author - Communications Specialist
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