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 Good morning, and happy Opening Day. (Opening Day for 4-year-old tee-ball in our family). Without further ado, Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the Week":
The New Zealand Christmas Tree -– Metrosideros excelsus
New Zealand's national tree’s preference for oceanside locations is reflected in its Polynesian name: Pohutukawa ("sprinkled by spray"). Its other name refers to the midsummer blooming period, which is around December Down Under. Some 50 Metrosideros species are native to New Zealand, Hawaii and New Caledonia.
This evergreen tree grows at a moderate pace into a dense, gray-looking, 30-foot-tall by 30-foot-wide roundhead. The 2- to 3-foot-long leaves are glossy gray –- green when the tree is young, but dark to gray-green on top and whitish and woolly below at older age. The large clusters of brilliant red flowers with long stamens immediately suggest the tree’s relationship with eucalyptus (both are in the myrtle family). Leathery brown seed capsules are a quarter-inch across and stay on the tree for a long time. Bark is coarse and rough. The tree takes drought, salt air, cold wind, smog. It is disease- and pest-resistant. It needs ample rooting space: In its native rocky habitat some above-ground roots go looking for soil pockets, while magnificent "beards" of aerial roots may come down from the branches for the same purpose. Most beautiful as a multi-trunk tree, it is usually seen as a single-trunk street tree without the interesting aerial roots.
While the tree does very well in coastal California, it has become invasive in some parts of South Africa. The botanical name refers to the quality of its wood: metra (heartwood) and sideros (iron). The variety "Aurea" has yellow flowers. The tree makes a good bonsai.
Thanks, as always, Pieter.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo credit: Pieter Severynen
 Good morning, it's a clear and beautiful one in my little corner of Los Angeles. As nice a day as it is, though, there are two words that jumped out at me from today's Tree of the Week from Pieter Severynen. The words, sadly, are "highly flammable."
The paperbark tree -- Melaleuca quinquenervia
The paperbark, also known as cajeput or punk tree, is a member of the myrtle family, which also includes eucalyptus and callistemon, or bottlebrush. Melaleuca is native to Australia, Malaysia and New Caledonia. The first thing one notices about this tree are the exfoliating layers of cream- or light brown-colored, thin papery bark, stacked like pages of a book and spongy to the touch. They are great for climbing and nail sharpening, as countless squirrels and cats have demonstrated. The tree is very popular because it looks quite attractive when young and its problems do not become visible until midlife.
Fast growing to an open-crowned, 20- to 40-foot-tall, 15- to 25-foot-wide evergreen tree with pendulous young branches, the tree carries stiff, narrow, 2- to 5-foot-long pale green leaves that are covered with silky hair when young. In summer and fall, yellowish-white, 2- to 3-foot-long flower spikes appear, followed by woody capsules filled with tiny seeds. After several years it turns out that the root flare (the thickening trunk just above the ground and roots) just doesn’t stop gaining girth and will happily overtake or obliterate any nearby vegetation or pavement. In other words, it needs a lot of room. The tree is drought-resistant but can take much water; however, given its insatiable thirst and resulting growth, it is best to keep it on a low-water diet once it has become established.
The tree was introduced in South Florida in the early 1900s for landscaping and for "swamp drying." It did the latter job well. So spectacularly well, in fact, that now it has invaded hundreds of thousands of acres within the Everglades and is considered an extremely invasive, noxious weed. Within three years after germination the tree can produce a million seeds, it is highly flammable and crowds out all other plants. In reaction to stress, including herbicides and fire, the tree aggressively spreads its seeds. It should not be planted in any moist tropical or subtropical area; it has also become an invader in Hawaii after having escaped cultivation there.
Thanks, Pieter.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: Pieter Severynen
 Bloomberg News has a nice news-feature today on the sidewalk-eating headache that is the ficus tree: "The bill is coming due for Los
Angeles, decades after ficus trees were planted to supply shade
for a city bathed in sunshine almost year-round. The thrusting roots of mature ficus are tearing up
sidewalks, triggering complaints and lawsuits."
I was particularly happy to see L.A. Land's tree expert, Pieter Severynen, quoted prominently: "Ficus trees are notorious supersizers,'' Pieter tells Bloomberg. "Almost everything grows in Southern California. It becomes a
curse when the cute little tree you planted turns into a
monster.''
More: "Los Angeles budgeted $8.4 million in May toward mending
4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) of damaged sidewalks, said
Victoria Villa-Agustin, an analyst at the Bureau of Street Services. It paid about $415,000 to settle 99 claims involving
tree mishaps from July 2007 through April 2008."
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg News.
Hat tip: JJ, via e-mail.
 Why is it that we love the tree but complain so much about the roots? As if we could have one without the other. In this special edition of "Tree of the Week," Pieter Severynen sings the praises of roots, the kings of the underground jungle.
Roots and the underground jungle
What happens to trees below ground is as interesting as what we see above the surface. Trees stand up because their roots anchor them. The large perennial roots, usually oriented more horizontally than vertically, also conduct water and minerals upward and food down, and store sugars or starches manufactured by the leaves. They occur mainly in the top 18 to 30 inches of soil. Small, fairly short-lived feeder roots, less than one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, constitute the bulk of the root mass; they grow outward and upward at a very slow pace, close to the soil surface, where they can absorb water, minerals and oxygen. These feeder roots are concentrated in the top 6 to 9 inches. Altogether the roots are bundled in the shape of a plate, which typically extends 2-3 times the width of the tree crown or more, so that an idealized tree representation looks less like a wine glass than a wine glass on a plate. Roots grow best in good soil, consisting of 50% solids, and 50% voids filled with air and water; the more compacted the soil, the more reluctant the feeder roots become to wiggle their way between the soil particles and the less the tree grows.
Utter darkness and silence may rule down below, but it is a jungle teeming with billions of creatures. Viruses, bacteria, fungi, amoebae, nematodes, arthropods and worms silently compete with, stalk, pounce on, kill and eat each other, or try to invade or take a bite out of the juicy roots. But roots have their own defenses and they do not fight alone. Millions of years ago certain beneficial fungi (mycorrhizae, fungus root) started cooperating with roots and growing on or inside them. Their thin threadlike hyphens now hugely extend the reach of roots in their search for minerals and water and help fight off competitors. In return the mycorrhizae receive sugars from the plant. The arrangement is so profitable that almost all plants use it, but in order to feed both roots and fungus a tree may have to divert below ground as much as 40% of the food produced by the leaves.
Thanks, Pieter.
Your thoughts? Comments?
Photo Credit: Pieter Severynen
 Good morning, Rocco Mediate, and good luck today.
If you watch the U.S. Open Golf Tournament later today, take special note of the beautiful trees at Torrey Pines down in La Jolla, and be thankful to live in a region where so many trees flourish, as Pieter Severynen reminds us once a week. His Tree of the Week:
The Italian cypress – Cupressus sempervirens
"The Etruscans enjoyed a thriving culture in Italy for some 500 years. They may have come from Asia Minor or the Eastern Mediterranean, whence they brought their sophisticated culture, including the tree that marked their gardens and cemeteries. Eventually the newly emerging Romans appropriated their technology, adopted some of their culture, absorbed the population, abolished the language and planted the Etruscans’ favorite tree that we now call Italian cypress in their own gardens. Human association with the Italian cypress goes back more than 3000 years and we are still impressed by the tree. Vincent van Gogh tried to capture its essence in his paintings at Arles, France.
"Few trees are so conspicuous in shape, so resolutely upright. The species has horizontal branches, but most people only know the narrow columnar form, a dense evergreen tree that grows fast, 40 to 60 feet high but only 3 to 6 feet wide. The crown is symmetrical, the medium green leaves are tiny scales, flowers are insignificant, and the small golf ball-size fruits brown in color. Small and short branches grow upright around the trunk. The tree loves full sun. It will take clay, loam, sand, acidic or alkaline soil, some ocean spray and drought. Roots are not invasive. Many cultivars are available, including a gold -colored one and a dwarf shape. The wood is fragrant and resinous. Mites and cypress canker are significant diseases. ‘Bolgheri’ is a canker-resistant variety. The tree can reputedly live for many centuries, but I haven’t been able to find age verification.
"Native to the eastern Mediterranean area and western Asia, the tree needs a dry climate. Over-watering and heavy wet soil may kill it. Usually not appropriate as a hedge (too tall, too fast, out of scale; shrubs are much better) they look best in small clusters or as solitary individuals where they do not overwhelm their surroundings.
Thanks, Pieter.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo credit: Pieter Severynen
 Good morning, Kent Desormeaux. LA Land is pulling for you on this beautiful spring Saturday. For those of you doing some gardening today, or maybe taking a trip to the nursery, today's thought of the day, from Pieter Severynen: Embrace the unpredictable. Without further ado, Pieter Severynen's Tree of the Week:
The red-flowering gum — Corymbia ficifolia (a.k.a. Eucalyptus ficifolia)
The red-flowering gum is not for those who like their street trees lined up military fashion or who love uniformity and predictability. This is an extreme individualist for gardeners who like to gamble. The flowers may be crimson red, orange, salmon, cream or white, but the color cannot be predicted and there is a seven-year wait for the first bloom.
The tree flowers when it wants to, usually in late spring, but also intermittently throughout the year. Some trees bloom heavily every year, others every other year. Propagation is usually by seed, and the resulting more or less round-headed tree may be anywhere from 20 to 40 feet tall and 15 to 50 feet wide. (Grafting a branch onto another eucalyptus rootstock for a more certain outcome is possible but difficult.)
The tree easily hybridizes with the larger Eucalyptus calophylla, making the outcome even more variable. Some mature trees sport a huge lignotuber, a conspicuous swelling at the base of the trunk, wherein dormant vegetative buds wait to regenerate the tree after a fire; others do not.
The tree is absolutely spectacular in bloom, when the foot-long flower clusters form hemispherical domes, or corymbs, which are borne elevated above the leaf canopy. A moderately fast grower, the red-flowering gum looks best where there is some coastal influence. Eventually it grows into a very dense roundhead, with rough, longitudinally furrowed gray bark on the trunk. The leaves are broad and glossy, 3 to 7 inches long, darker on top than underneath. After flowering, clusters of showy, inch-wide, 1-to-3-inch-long, hard, urn- or pipe-bowl-shaped gum-nut fruit are so numerous that they may pull the branches down.
The tree does well in urban conditions of air pollution, drought and compacted soil, but it does not like lawn watering. Its faults are many, if not as numerous as its virtues. Branches are somewhat susceptible to breakage because of poor crotch formation. When stressed the trunk starts bleeding black sap, or kino. Like most Eucalyptus species the tree is subject to borers and psyllids, which are controlled to some extent by imported predators, and to leaf spots and crown gall. The tree is not in fashion right now.
The red-flowering gum is native to a very small area of south coastal western Australia. In 1995 the botanical powers that be decided to transfer some 90 Eucalyptus species, including E. ficifolia, into the newly created Corymbia genus; trade acceptance of the new name is not yet universal.
Thanks, Pieter.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to Peter.Viles@latimes.com
Photo: Pieter Severynen
Good morning. It's threatening to be a gloomy one on the Westside, but I'm sure it will burn off soon. Without further ado, Pieter Severynen's Tree of the Week:
The Chinese Elm – Ulmus parvifolia
Few trees can take the place of the millions of magnificent American elm (Ulmus americana) trees that used to grace streets in large parts of North America but fell victim to Dutch Elm disease or suffered from elm yellows (phloem necrosis), shallow rooting, branch drop, and other major problems. The Chinese or Lacebark elm tree lacks the stateliness and large green leaves of the American elm, and it that sense is not a perfect replacement. But it is a graceful, easy to grow, dependable and normally pest-free tree in the southern half of the U.S. and on the West Coast.
Fast-growing to 40 to 60 feet and as wide or wider, the Chinese elm is semi-evergreen or almost so, depending on variety and temperature. Careful shaping in youth is a must. Form is variable, usually spreading, with long, arching branches and weeping branchlets. The light grey or tan bark on the sturdy trunk sheds in small patches to reveal a beautifully mottled pattern of orange reddish to light brown colors. The small, leathery, dark green, toothed, ¾ to 2½ inch long leaves have pronounced veins and asymmetrical bases (one side lower or wider than the other). The little green flowers in spring are insignificant, turn into tiny samaras, winged fruits, in fall. The tree will take pollution, poor or compacted soils, low soil moisture, freezing cold, strong winds, and overpruning, but it prefers more amenable conditions. Planted too close to paving, it will heave sidewalks and driveways. Many cultivars (cultivated varieties) of different shapes and sizes are available in the nursery. Some of those are favorite bonsai subjects.
Forty-five species of elms are indigenous to temperate zones of North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa. The Chinese elm’s homeland is North and Central China, Korea and Japan. It was introduced in the U.S. in 1794. The Chinese elm is sometimes mistakenly called Siberian elm and vice versa. But the Siberian elm, Ulmus pumila, is an undesirable and inferior tree, bearing no resemblance to its Chinese cousin.
Thanks, Pieter.
Your Thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: Pieter Severynen
 Pieter Severynen's Tree of the Week is always a welcome interlude here, but especially so this long holiday weekend.
The naked coral tree –- Erythrina coralloides
"The naked coral tree is a stunning sight several times during the year. In late spring fiery scarlet-red, fist-size flower clusters unfold at the end of the bare branches. They stay for weeks, resembling fireworks frozen in action. Three-part leaves, eight to 10 inches long, follow, green in summer, turning yellow in fall, to reveal a living sculpture of mustard-brown, twisted and gnarled branches. The garden variety ‘bicolor’ is particularly interesting; it sports red, white, and mixed color flower clusters on the same tree.
"Given full sun and moderate water, the tree grows at a moderately slow pace to become more or less round-headed, 30 feet tall by 30 feet wide. It is wise to plant the tree a little bit away from foot traffic, so that it may be admired but not touched. Beautiful as the tree is, thorns on branches and leaves can be vicious; the shiny red seeds are poisonous and the wood is brittle.
"Erythrinas are a cosmopolitan group with colorful flowers. The naked coral tree is from Mexico, but the other 115 Erythrina species come from tropical and subtropical areas in Africa, Central America, Australia, southern Asia, the East Indies and Hawaii. They learned to travel widely because the seeds can float in seawater for up to a year.
"Pea-like blossoms in various modified forms characterize the pea family, Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae). Within the Erythrina genus of the family, flowers have evolved in two directions, depending on which bird does the pollinating. In the Old World, where the pollinator is a passerine bird with a short bill, the flowers are short and wide. They have a gaping corolla with the keel and wing parts widely separated so that the bird can stick its head and breast in the flower, get dusted with pollen and fly off to pollinate the next flower. But here in the New World, hummingbirds with long bills pollinate most species, even if unwittingly. As a result the flowers have grown a long tubular corolla for the bird to stick its bill in, while the keel and wing parts are small. But the stamens are equally well positioned to dust the hummingbird with pollen. As an added inducement, the nectar in the tube became very sweet in order to satisfy the high energy requirements of the hummingbirds."
Thanks, as always, Pieter.
Your thoughts? Comments?
Photo Credit: Pieter Severynen
 Good morning, Big Brown, and others waking up on the East Coast.
Our little corner of Los Angeles is a riot of color these days, though I don't think I've seen one of these -- a purple orchid tree, captured here by photograher NatashaP, and Pieter Severynen's Tree of the Week.
The purple orchid tree -- Bauhinia variegata (a.k.a. purpurea)
"The semi-evergreen to deciduous purple orchid tree from India and China is deservedly popular here along our streets and in our gardens. When in bloom anytime from late winter through spring, it is generously covered with faintly scented, light pink to purple, orchid like, 2-3" wide flowers, beloved by hummingbirds. The genus contains dozens of equally spectacular orchid trees whose flower colors range from pink to purple, orange, red, yellow, and white. The Hong Kong orchid tree, Bauhinia x blakeana, whose flower appears on the Hong Kong flag, is also popular here. At first looks similar to the purple orchid tree, but it is smaller in stature, while its flowers are twice as large.
"Moderate to fast growing, the purple orchid tree has a tendency to be shrubby. It needs some helpful guidance pruning in youth in order to become a 30 feet tall by 30 feet wide roundhead (or whatever shape the tree trimmers select). The light tan to dark brown bark is smooth when young, becomes rougher with age. The broad, double-lobed, heart-shaped, 2-3 inch wide leaves have a deep notch at the top. The tree often blooms on briefly bare branches. Thereafter a large crop of messy, beanlike, brown seedpods may hang on the tree for quite a while, unless removed. The tree likes moderate watering, but is drought resistant.
"The curious leaf shape of all Bauhinia plants: broad, two-lobed, as if the two halves had grown together, is responsible for the genus name. Carl Linnaeus, (1707-1778), instituted our binomial plant naming system of one genus name (such as Bauhinia) and one species name (such as variegata) per plant. Members of a genus are sufficiently alike that they can interbreed, even if each species is otherwise obviously different from every other species. Linnaeus built on the earlier work of the brothers Gaspard and Jean Bauhin, two French-Swiss science marvels of the 1560-1624 period, both of whom were physicians, botanists and professors. Gaspard first published the concept of the genus-species description for each plant. Linnaeus so admired his botanical predecessors that the honored them by naming a genus after them, hence the name 'Bauhinia.' Linnaeus said that the shape of the leaf reminded him of two brothers who always stayed and worked together. We don't know if Gaspard and Jean
ever saw any plant later known as Bauhinia.
Thanks, Pieter, as always.
Your thoughts? Comments?
Photo Credit: NatashaP on flickr. Thanks, Natasha.
 Good morning. It's a gloomy one on the Westside, but it's early yet. "Tree of the Week" this week is jacaranda, in a landslide. Jacaranda was our tree of the week a year ago -- I called it a "showy, troublesome, classic" (troublesome because of the mess made by the falling flowers and potential root problems).
This year, Pauline O'Connor of LATimes.com's The Guide has a great short list of the best places to see jacarandas in L.A. right now. Pauline's top three (of five):
1. UCLA, Westwood/West L.A.
Locate some lavender in the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden on UCLA's north campus.
2. Traxx restaurant, downtown L.A.
The towering old trees in the back patio of this Union Station restaurant are aglow with romantic lanterns.
3. Victoria Avenue, Crenshaw District
This wide street just west of Crenshaw Boulevard is jammed with jacarandas for five straight blocks. Start at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and head north as far as Rodeo Road.
Thanks, Pauline, excellent stuff. Pieter Severynen's original, old-school "Tree of the Week" will return next Saturday.
Photo: Los Angeles Times
 Good morning, Big Brown, it's time to rise and shine and show the world what you're made of. To the rest of you, welcome to another installment of Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the Week."
The silk oak – Grevillea robusta
"Our trees here are even more cosmopolitan than our human population. Most of our Southland trees come from other parts of the world. Many stand out for their shape, flowers or foliage. Some sport a colorful history. By and large they are desirable neighbors, although some definitely have worn out their welcome. Several, including today’s silk oak, have both good and bad qualities, and should be used judiciously. All of them are fascinating.
"Fast growing to 60 feet, sometimes 100 feet tall and 25 to 30 feet wide, the pyramidal- to oval-shaped silk oak easily towers above its surroundings. Often planted near roads, it really stands out in late spring when, especially in good years, clusters of showy golden yellow flowers almost completely cover the tree. A thick gray trunk, few but heavy branches, moderately dense crown, evergreen ferny leaves divided into many 2- to 4-inch-long leaflets, medium green above, silvery-gray below, make it easy to identify the tree when not in bloom. Small inconspicuous black fruits follow the flowers. The tree is beautiful in bloom, drought tolerant and useful as a fast and tall-growing hedge on a large lot. But it has enough undesirable characteristics to keep it away from the house: messy leaf, flower, branchlet and seed drop; brittle wood; branches that break easily. The tree benefits from guidance pruning in youth.
"A member of the Protea family, which is known for unusual flower shapes, the silk oak comes from northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland, Australia. It is not related to oaks and does not produce silk. We use the tree only for its ornamental qualities, but in other parts of the world it is valued for its products. It provides medium-strength timber for furniture, plywood and guitar tops; plywood; and poles. In Eastern and Central Africa it is planted as a boundary hedge between farms which can be harvested occasionally for its wood, while the leaves provide mulch and cattle feed. The tree gives high shade and frost protection to coffee and tea shrubs in plantations. In warm and moist climates (Hawaii) it can become invasive."
Thanks, as always, Pieter.
Your thoughts? Comments? Email story tip to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: Pieter Severynen
 Always welcome after a week of dreary news on housing and the economy: Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the Week." Enjoy.
The Blue Gum — Eucalyptus globulus
"After the 1849 Gold Rush, transpacific shipping was booming. Seeds of the Australian Blue Gum Eucalyptus from Southern Victoria and Tasmania were imported in San Francisco in 1853; by 1860 the young Blue Gums had reached 50 feet. Californians started planting and hyping the incredibly fast-growing trees; thousands of newly planted acres were sold as investment property. In 1876, state Sen. Ellwood Cooper promoted their use in ‘Forest Culture and Eucalyptus Trees,’ in which he wrote about his experimental plantings near Santa Barbara. But the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859 led to the gradual replacement of wood with oil for industrial energy use. When it also became known that weed from young Blue Gum trees makes good firewood and pulp, but poor lumber because it is very difficult to cure, the instant-gratification plantation bubble burst. Still, we are left in Southern California with two thousand miles of Blue Gum hedges that protect citrus orchards from cold winds and we see thousands of older ornamental specimens in our cities.
"The evergreen Blue Gum grows into a 50- to 160-foot-tall, 30- to 75-foot-wide tree with massive trunk and braches, impressive in stature but sloppy in foliage. Juvenile leaves are oval and silvery blue-gray; the 6- to 12-inch-long mature dark gray-green leaves hang down vertically. All leaves are so full of ethereal oils that you can actually smell the tree some distance away (but the crushed leaf smell test is fun). Small, creamy white flowers with numerous stamens appear during November–April, after the cap (Greek: eu –completely; kaluptos – cover) has fallen off the little cup that contains the flower; the subsequent almost inch-wide waxy fruit capsule is covered with a button-shaped top. Long brownish-gray strips peel off the smooth yellowish bark. Thick layers of messy leaves, seeds and bark strips congregate below the tree, prevent other plants from growing and easily catch fire. The tree has a nasty habit of occasionally dropping thick branches without any seeming provocation or warning.
"Notoriously fire-prone because of its ethereal oils, the tree usually resprouts after a fire. It is aggressively invasive in coastal Northern California, but barely here in the Southland because our climate is too dry. Blue Gum is one of the most widely planted trees worldwide for the production of hardwood, pulp, firewood, honey, and the essential oils contained in the leaves. These are used in the manufacture of cleaners, deodorizers, food, insect repellents, and many medical purposes. For our urban forest we have far better choices available among the 600+ Eucalyptus species than the Blue Gum, although during the last 10 years many new Eucalyptus pests such as the sap-sucking, aphid-related psyllids have become established here. Thank UC for continuously introducing small predatory wasps to fight these pests the natural way."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: L.A. Times file photo from 2000 shows Jeff Zoumbaris, forestry services manager for Burbank, stretching his arms to show the relative diameter of a eucalyptus tree.
I'm happy to report that Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the Week" is back after a week off. Welcome back, Pieter.
The Camphor Tree – Cinnamomum camphora"A tree that has both cinnamon and camphor in its name must be interesting. The camphor tree is a member of the Laurel family, which is known for its aromatic leaves and bark. The family includes the Sweet Bay or Grecian Laurel of cooking fame, Laurus nobilis, and the true Cinnamon Tree, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, the ground inner bark of which yields aromatic essential oils and cinnamon, described as far back as the Bible. You can always identify the camphor tree by crushing a leaf and inhaling its pungent camphor smell. Camphor was steamed out of the bark and wood and used for cooking, antiseptic and other medical applications, incense, insect repellant, and industrial uses before it could be manufactured artificially. In the 1600s Dutch merchants brought the tree to the Netherlands from Japan. "If allowed to spread, the camphor tree in Southern California develops at a slow to moderate pace into a 60 feet tall by 50 feet wide, dense, broadleaf, evergreen tree. It is magnificent where as a street tree it provides a complete canopy over the street, something cities unfortunately no longer let happen due to the cost of maintenance. It has a strong structure with heavy, upright, spreading limbs. The deeply furrowed, light gray bark turns a beautiful black when wet. The 2.5- to 5-inch-long elliptical leaves with three prominent veins start out pinkish bronze in spring, then turn shiny yellow to apple green later in the season. Inconspicuous greenish flowers spice the spring air with a delicate fragrance; small blackish fruits follow later. Heavy leaf drop and invasive roots may be problematic. The tree is drought tolerant. "Originally from China, Japan and Korea, the camphor tree shows the ‘vacation effect’ peculiar to so many trees: It does very well in a new environment. Sometimes too well: The tree has become invasive along the American Gulf Coast, in Hawaii and other moist climates. We are lucky here because our summer dry Mediterranean climate lets us enjoy this beautiful and deservedly popular tree without danger of it escaping into the wild and taking over native habitats."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: Camphor trees on Prospect Avenue in Pasadena, 1996, by the L.A. Times
 Good morning. Pieter Severynen, who brings us Tree of the Week, is under the weather this week. We wish him a speedy recovery. In the meantime, from the L.A. Land archives, one of Pieter's greatest hits from last spring.
"Did you know that the city of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power gives away trees? Visit Trees for a Green LA or call 1-800-GreenLA. At the various tree giveaways in the city, the Purple Leaf Plum is usually the first one to go. Most people fall in love with its deep, dark, purple foliage.
"The tree is 'Prunus cerasifera ‘Krauter Vesuvius’ -– ‘K.V.’ Purple-leaf plum. Carl Krauter of Bakersfield introduced this darkest of the purple-leafed plums in 1957, hence the name. This well-behaved, vase-shape to rounded, small tree, 15 to 20 feet high, 10 to 15 feet wide, loves full sun to part shade. Single pink flowers adorn the bare branches around February, at the end of its winter leafless period. It produces little to no fruit, takes dry conditions, and has few problems. Branches have a tendency to all emanate from one spot on the trunk, so prune the tree at an early age to make later maintenance easier. If you find it's in-your-face leaf color too gaudy, try one of its more subtle cousins such as P.x blireiana (the ‘x’ means it is a hybrid) or P.c.‘Thundercloud’."
Thanks, Pieter. Get well soon.
Thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: L.A. Times
 Happy weekend. To a New England boy, one of the great surprises of living in Southern California is the happy realization that there really are seasons here. True, summer dominates, and the other three are subtle, but they're real. As real as the spectacular flowering trees Pieter Severynen writes about this week.
Pink Trumpet Tree -- Tabebuia impetiginosa
"Usually at this is the time of year we get treated to the Pink Trumpet Tree’s spectacular flower show. This South American tree occurs from Mexico to Northern Argentina. Called pau d’arco in Portuguese, it loses its leaves during the tropical winter, the dry season in Brazil. Here the branches are bare a little out of season but the tree conveniently blooms at that time so that there is nothing to detract from the great masses of pink/magenta trumpet-shaped flowers with a canary yellow streak. They will stay on the tree for about three weeks. Sometimes flowers appear for a second time. After flowering, new olive-green palmate leaves with five to seven, 2- to 4-inch-long elliptical leaflets quickly cover the tree, accompanied by foot-long glossy seed pods that look like green beans. The seed pods may hang on for a long time.
"This semi-deciduous tree, a member of the colorful Bignoniaceae, or trumpet vine, family, grows at a moderate pace to 25-40 feet tall and wide. Eventually it assumes a dome to vase shape, with many angled branches; it never has the strong branch structure of an oak or a sycamore. Bark is smooth and brown. The tree needs moderate water when young and does not bloom till older.
"The yellowish wood is very dense and heavy. Rich in tannins, it resists decay. Wood from several Tabebuia species is used for outdoor decks and boardwalks; some of it is overharvested in the wild. Extract of the inner bark is used as an expectorant and an antibiotic in its native area. While the tree saw centuries of use by natives, it was not ‘discovered’ by European scientists till Johann Baptist von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius of the 1817-1820 Austrian Commission brought back samples from Brazil."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: Pieter Severynen
 As another week draws to a close, L.A. Land looks forward to a mellow spring weekend in Los Angeles. This is the season when trees flower by the tens of thousands, draping the urban forest in a sweet-smelling blanket. Pieter Severynen on one of the trees that makes this "fragrance time" in Southern California:
The Victorian Box – Pittosporum undulatum
"Early spring is fragrance time in Southern California: You step outside and if you are lucky you smell a strong orange blossom aroma in the air. If so, look around to see if a Victorian box is blooming nearby. For a few weeks the tree is covered with extremely fragrant tiny white flowers. Not a spectacular or a superlative tree, the Victorian Box instead is a dependable, quietly beautiful performer. A medium-sized, round-headed, evergreen tree from southeast Australia, which is also called mock orange, it grows fairly fast initially to 15 feet tall; then slows down to eventually reach 30-40 feet tall and wide. The glossy leaves are light green when they first emerge, gradually turning a darker shade of green. To 6 inches long, they are lance-shaped and wavy-edged. Thin brown bark covers the trunk. That sweet fragrance is a characteristic the tree shares with other members of the family, such as the Willow and Queensland Pittosporums from Australia and the South African Cape Pittosporum.
"While good as a closely planted screen or windbreak, the tree looks best when standing alone and pruned periodically to enhance its form. It loves full sun to partial shade and low-to-moderate water. Its drawbacks are hard, small, inedible, orange fruits with sticky seeds; abundant drop of leaves that may be allelopathic (poisonous to other plants); and roots that become invasive with age: Best to keep it away from pavement. But one major problem has emerged that overshadows all others: The tree becomes invasive in favorable climates. It has turned into a weed in parts of Australia, South Africa and California, and in Hawaii, the Caribbean and Pacific islands, where it invades disturbed soils. We would be wise to select safer substitutes in our new plantings."
Thanks, Pieter
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo Credit: The city of Monterey Park
 Good morning, and Happy Easter in advance. Today, the third in Pieter Severynen's inspirational three-part essay about California's superlative trees -- he's told us about the oldest, the biggest, and now, the tallest. Enjoy.
The Coast Redwood – Sequoia sempervirens
"The Coast redwoods thrive in the thickest part of California’s fog belt, where each summer day cool fog moves onto land from the ocean. In this 5- to 45-mile-wide strip of land, stretching 470 miles from Central California north to southern Oregon, the fog condenses on the branches and drips down onto the ground, supplying from 15% to almost half the water needs of these trees. Grouped in cathedral-like groves, each tree hosts many guests: some leaves fall onto branches below, decompose there into ‘canopy soil’, which supports dozens of epiphytic ferns high up in the air, accompanied by beetles, earthworms, millipedes and salamanders; herons, spotted owls, murrelets and other birds love to nest high in the canopy. The trees love company: root systems are extensive but shallow, and once the outer individuals of a cluster of trees have been cut down, strong winds may topple the rest. New trees sprout from cut stumps; many second-growth forests exist.
From a very fast 3-5’ a year initially, the trees gradually slow down, but they just don’t stop. They can attain 2,200 years of age and 23’ diameter at the base. ‘Hyperion’, the currently tallest tree, is located in the Redwood National Park; discovered and measured in 2006, it stands 379.1 ft. tall. It has several neighbors in the 350’ range. (The theoretical physical limit to tree growth is estimated to be 400-425’).
Redwoods grow well in Southern California: the more we approximate their native habitat (moist canyons, nearby stream, enough water), the better they will do. The tree grows into a beautiful symmetrical pyramid, with branches coming horizontally out of the trunk, and then curving up. Inch-long leaves are medium green on top, grayish green below; they grow in one plane, giving the branchlets a feathery look. Thick, fibrous red-brown bark on the trunk is fire resistant. Round brown cones are only 1-1 1/2” long."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Comments? Thoughts?
Photo credit: Courtesy of the L.A. County Arboretum
 Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the week" is always a welcome change of pace here, and particularly so after a tumultuous week. This week Pieter continues his three-part look at California's superlative trees. This week, the largest.
Giant Sequoia – Seqoiadendron giganteum
"Ancestors of the redwood family grew worldwide some 175 million years ago. But after the Ice Ages the three remaining species: Giant Sequoia, Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens and Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, are now limited to small areas. The Giant Sequoias of California’s Western Sierra Nevada, also known as Big Trees, grow in some 75 groves scattered at elevations of 4,600 to 7,000 feet. Most trees are located in the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National parks and Giant Sequoia National Monument. Well-intentioned human interference has caused their density to decline. A century of fire suppression promoted heavy undergrowth of fir trees that prevented sequoia seedlings from getting established. In addition, the incidence of naturally occurring, rather frequent, low-intensity fires that are not harmful to the trees but actually clear the soil for the seedlings has dwindled. Meanwhile, very damaging, hard to fight, high-intensity fires started take place. So since 1970 controlled burns are used to mimic the original pattern.
"Since giant sequoias grow very fast, 2 to 3 feet a year, and keep on growing and adding girth, sometimes for over 3,000 years, they produce a huge amount of wood. The General Sherman tree, the world’s champion largest tree in terms of volume, is 36.5 feet in diameter at its base, still 14 feet in diameter at 180 feet high, stands 275 feet tall, and contains an estimated 52,500 cubic feet of wood. In our gardens we can expect 60- to 100-foot tall, 30- to 50-foot wide, dense, cold hardy, pyramidal, evergreen trees. Branchlets are covered with small, overlapping, pointed scales. Fibrous brown bark, up to two feet thick, protects the tree against fire and insects. Cones, 2 to 3 inches long, hang on for many years. Wood is decay-resistant but brittle. Several garden varieties, including a weeping one, are available. From its first western naming in 1833, botanists kept disagreeing about the proper classification; it was not until 1939 and after three more names that J. Buchholz gave the tree its current designation."
Thanks, Pieter.
Thoughts? Comments?
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: The General Grant tree in Kings Canyon National Park, Tulare County, by the National Park Service.
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Good morning. Take a deep breath and forget about foreclosures and bailouts for a minute. Think about the trees that live for thousands of years. Seriously. Pieter Severynen's Tree of the Week explains.
"California is home to the world’s oldest, largest, and tallest known living trees, although the actual champions grow north of here, not in the Southland itself. They are the subjects of the next three columns.
"The oldest tree: Bristlecone Pine, Pinus longaeva
"Bristlecone pines grow in some of the harshest environments on Earth: sub-alpine zones between 10,000 and 11,000’ high, where temperatures range from 158º F to –15º F, soils are thin and poor; yearly precipitation is only 10”; and frequent lightning, storms and drought damage the trees so badly that they look more dead than alive. During the 6-week to 3-month growing season the trunk may increase less than 1/100 of an inch in girth. Survival is the name of the game here: the needles last for 25-30 years; bark and tissue die back to the minimum necessary to absorb the limited nutrient production; dense resinous wood resists fungi and insects; and cones with viable seeds are produced till the trees’ very end, which is counted in millennia.
"In 1953 dendrochronologist Edmund Schulman heard a rumor about these ancient trees growing in California’s White-Inyo Mountain Range. He found several in the 3,000 to 4,000 year age range. In 1957 he discovered ‘Methuselah’, then 4,723 years old. As far as we know it is the world’s oldest living tree. The U.S. Forest Service established the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, but ‘Methuselah’ is not identified to thwart vandalism. Actually, the oldest known tree, nicknamed ‘Prometheus’, stood near Wheeler Peak, eastern Nevada. In 1964 graduate student Donald Currey (who may not have known it was the oldest) made the incredible decision to cut it down ‘for research purposes’. It turned out to be over 5,000 years old.
"Depending on location, the tree grows slowly to exceedingly slowly to 20+’ tall, and 15’ wide. It is dense, bushy, heavy trunked; it carries its 1-1.5” long needles 5 to a bunch or fascicle; the dark purplish brown cones are 3.5” long; branches become fantastically gnarled. We are more likely to see it here as a bonsai, rock garden or container plant than a garden tree. In 1970 bristlecone pines, which grow in isolated areas in the six southwestern states, were found to be not one species, P. aristata, but two: the westernmost ones were reclassified as P. longaeva.
"Analysis of the trees’ annual growth rings gave us new insight in past climatic events. It is ironic that global warming now threatens these ancient patriarchs and matriarchs themselves with extinction."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo credit: Ian Parker. See Ian's work at Evanescent Light
 Good morning. Spring is just around the corner, which means gardening. Accordingly, Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the Week" is not about a tree this week, but about how to take care of your trees.
Pruning Trees
"Just like any other subject, pruning isn’t that hard once you understand the principles involved. It also gets easier the more you practice. A tree needs pruning only for specific purposes, such as to remove dead, diseased, damaged or crossing wood or branches; to develop a certain shape (single leader or excurrent, versus open vase shape or decurrent); to develop a strong scaffold or main branch framework when the tree is young; to stimulate new growth in a desired direction; to limit the size; to increase fruit or flower production; or to accentuate character. A good trimmer can prune just about any tree in just about any shape, but that it isn’t necessarily a good thing. You should have a mental picture of what you want to achieve before you start pruning. If there is no convincing reason to prune, the tree is better off without it.
"The most important shaping is done when the tree is young; the older it gets, the less pruning it needs, provided it was trained well all along. It takes years to train most trees in the desired shape, especially since one can do only so much at one time. When you prune, you wound and you remove some of the reserve food that is stored in the branches and trunk. For that reason, pruning shouldn’t take off more than 25% of the leaves at any one time.
"It is very important to make the pruning cuts in such a way that the wounds (which should be small) heal fast. Only the tree’s natural healing process works; wound coverings actually do harm. A tree trimmer who doesn’t know where to cut in relation to branch bark ridge and collar, or who leaves branch stubs, takes off too much wood, ‘heads’ the main branches back into bare wood or uses climbing spikes will cause severe damage. Other pruning considerations include tree species, flowering habit and time of year. The ‘Sunset Western Garden Book’ provides some elementary pruning knowledge; Edward Gilman’s ‘An Illustrated Guide to Pruning’ goes into exhaustive detail."
Thanks, Pieter.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
 Good morning. It has been an eventful week on the blog -- passionate arguments about affordability, bailouts and the media's coverage of the housing bubble. Now a brief time-out from drama, for Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the week."
The Fern Pine – Podocarpus gracilior
"Always clean and neat, all podocarps are beautiful evergreen conifers. We use them as screens, street and shade trees, but in their native habitats, they are prized for their beautiful timber, especially the South African yellowwoods. They come from a very cosmopolitan background: Central and South America, Asia, Australasia and Africa. Several species are available here.
"The fern pine is about as clean-looking, attractive and pest-free a tree as they come. The method of propagation of this eastern African tree determines its growth habit. Sown from seed, the plant grows upright from early age on. Somewhat sparsely foliated initially, the branches eventually become more closely covered with 1-2” long, ¼” wide grayish green to bluish green elliptical leaves that feel soft to the touch. These trees are usually sold as Podocarpus gracilior. If on the other hand, the trees are grown from cuttings or grafts, then the plants want to grow into a more willowy, drooping shape. These plants are typically sold as Podocarpus elongatus, although it is the same species. With proper staking, both end up looking the same. Because of the color variation in the leaf, it is worth your while selecting the exact shade of green you want in the nursery.
"As a freestanding tree, the fern pine expands at a moderate rate until it reaches 60’ tall and wide; usually it is kept smaller. It is dense and finely textured. Flaking gray platelets clothe the trunk. Given a nearby male, the female tree will bear small fleshy fruits. The tree will stand drought, a variety of soil types and exposures. People who plant the tree at 2’ on center as a quick growing screen find out that it just doesn’t know when to stop growing once the hedge has reached the desired height. Several trimmings a year are needed to keep it under control; a hedge of fast growing shrubs usually makes more sense."
Thanks, Pieter. E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: A fern pine on Venice Blvd. in Mar Vista, by L.A. Land.
 Sorry the delay, but here it is -- Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the Week."
The Queen Palm – Syagrus romanzoffianum
"Palms have roots, trunks and leaves. They don’t have true bark, branches or wood. That is because they are more akin to giant grasses than to broadleaf trees. An advantage they get from this relationship is that they can sway many feet in the wind without breaking. On the other hand, trunk wounds never heal and damage to the one and only growing point at the top of the trunk, between the leaves, is fatal.
"Although at first glance similar to the King Palm, the Queen Palm, which in older books may still be listed as Arecastrum romanzoffianum or Cocos plumosa, has its own character. The tree grows faster, taller (to 50’) and wider (to 20’) than a King. The gracefully arching, 10-15’ long feathery fronds, as palm leaves are called, are soft gray green, and the "shreds" are arranged in a horizontal plane around the midrib. The whole tree has a softer, looser appearance. To me a street planted in Queen Palms has a much less formal appearance than one with King Palms and I could see Queen Palms illustrating a Dr. Seuss book, but not Kings.
"Yellow flowers hang in clusters directly below the leaves, turn into green, then orange dates. The abundant fruit can become a nuisance; if you prune the tree do it at the flower or pre-fruit drop stage. The Queen Palm, which is originally from Brazil, likes water but is drought tolerant. It can stand smog, seacoast conditions and temperatures down to 25 degrees F (some have recovered from 16 F). Fronds tend to break in high wind. Queens cost about half as much as Kings, but initial price is a very small factor compared to annual and lifetime maintenance."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo credit: L.A. Land
 There are a million stories in the urban forest, and nobody knows more of them than my tree-loving friend, Pieter Severynen. He reminds me that the urban forest does not naturally exist in our desert climate -- it's here because we planted the trees. So one of the most basic stories is really about us -- and how we relate to trees.
The King Palm – Archontophoenix cunninghamiana
"Trees evoke particular emotions and we often associate specific trees with meaningful events of the past. If you hear ‘palm tree’, do you see a tropical island, a desert oasis, or a tiny burst of leaves on a tall and slender street trunk silhouetted against a purple and red sunset? What emotions come to mind?
"By concentrating on the image, we can actually sharpen the memory or emotion. When we hear ‘palm tree’ we picture a tall single trunk topped by a crown of divided leaves. (Leaves are divided in ‘shreds’ that make it harder for the wind to get hold). But what shape do those leaves have? The fans of the Fan Palms or the feathers of Feather Palms? And if they are feathers, is it the drooping elegance of the curiously flattened Fishtail Palm leaflets, the stiff and stately fishbone formality of the King Palm that we look at this week or the happy- go-lucky looseness and ostrich feather abandon of next week’s subject, the Queen Palm?
"The King Palm is dignified. But is also shouts: rainforest, especially when planted in groups. It is native to eastern Australia where it is called bungalow or piccabeen palm. Here it grows moderately fast to about 40’ tall by 15’ wide provided it gets enough water. The 8-10’ long, green above, gray beneath, leaves emanate horizontally or at an angle from the crown, and often end up with the straight leaf ‘shreds’ in a vertical instead of horizontal plane at the leaf’s bottom. Dead fronds shed cleanly to reveal a smooth gray trunk. A 4-6’ long bright green and clean vertical sheath separates the lavender flower clusters from the leaf crown. Small bright red waxy fruit follow in summer. Like all palms the king palm loves shade when younger and sun at maturity. Unlike other palms, it is not easy to transplant bare root. It will not take frost."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: L.A. Land
Last weekend we played "Name that tree" on the blog -- with the clean-shaven subject pictured.
My tree-loving friend Pieter Severynen informs me this is a Coral Tree, Erythrina caffra. Those of you who spend time on the Westside will recognize it as the same tree planted in the median of westernmost portion of San Vicente Boulevard.
Winners of the "Name that tree" contest include monkeyboy, H, and Brent.
More on Coral from Pieter: "It has brilliant red or orange flowers and is briefly decisuous. Under the right conditions it is a beautiful tree. It typically gets overwatered (it should have no or almost no water in summer). It is usually pruned at the wrong time (should happen after flowering) and it suffers from the occasional branch drop because there is just too much water in the
branches. It needs lots of space.
Your thoughts? Comments? Insights? Send story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo credit: L.A. Land
Good morning. I see rays of sunshine in the back yard this morning, which is a welcome, if temporary, sight. I also see some blooming flowers, which is a reminder that even in the rainy days of January, L.A. dazzles. Pieter Severynen does too, with another installment of "Tree of the Week."
The Evergreen Pear - Pyrus kawakamii
"The 20-odd species of pear trees come in two kinds: (edible) fruiting and ornamental. The evergreen pear is one of the ornamentals. Left to its own devices this mainland China and Taiwan native grows into a sprawling 15-25’ tall and wide big shrub, but our custom and taste is to shape it into a bare-trunked single or multi stem tree. This is accomplished by staking the trunk until it is self-supporting, cutting off any would-be branches sprouting along the trunk and selecting and shortening the long branches in the crown that grow in every direction to upward and outward facing buds, thus establishing a structural framework. Treated this less-than-natural way, the evergreen pear becomes an elegant open-structured small weeping tree with gracefully pendulous branches and drooping branchlets.
"Part of the Rose family, the tree is evergreen when the climate cooperates; in cold winters it may be partially deciduous. But the glossy, oval, 2-4” long leaves turn purple or red in winter. New growth is shiny light green. During good years spectacular clusters of white flowers completely cover the tree anytime from November to spring. Hard pruning prevents flowering. The tiny, ½” fruit, if it forms at all, is buff to black in color. The rough, deeply furrowed charcoal gray bark looks attractively picturesque, especially after rain.
"Once established, the tree needs little pruning. It can live from 50 to 150 years. Very tolerant of a range of soils, it loves full sun and gets by on moderate watering. But it suffers from fireblight, especially in wet winters. This bacterial disease turns isolated shoots and branches brown or black, making them look as if they went through a fire. The remedy to this usually non-fatal but contagious pest problem is to remove the affected branches 8-12” below the dieback point. Lesser problems that may also diminish the value of this otherwise beautiful small tree are a leaf spot disease that causes partial defoliation and sometimes aphids or scale."
Thanks, Pieter.
Email Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: www.sheridangardens.com
Good morning. It could be a false hint, but in my neighborhood this morning there is a hint of spring in the air. That means gardening, and trees, and Pieter Severynen's Tree of the Week:
"The Avocado Tree – Persea americana
"The Nahuatl Aztecs called the fruit ‘ahuacatl’ which the Spaniards pronounced as ‘aguacate.’ First described by Martin Fernandez de Enciso in 1519, this Central American pear-shaped fruit with its high (mono-unsaturated) oil content and big seed gradually became popular around the world for its delicious nutty taste. Introduced in California in the late 19th Century, the tree found our climate and soil so much to its liking that currently 95% of the U.S. crop is grown here, mainly in San Diego County.
"A dense evergreen tree, the avocado usually grows to 30-40’ tall and as wide, but it can easily be kept smaller through judicious pruning. It likes full sun and excellent drainage. Glossy, elliptic, dark green leaves with paler veins that show the relationship of the tree to its Laurel family relatives, the California Bay, Umbellularia californica and the Grecian Laurel, Laurus nobilis, are high in oil content and slow to decompose, so that they usually collect in a pile under the tree. Tips of living leaves are often brown due to the high dissolved salt level of our water. The branches and leaves are poisonous to many animals. The late winter – early spring-blooming tiny yellow-green flowers are bunched in clusters. An intricate system encourages cross pollination: the flowers either open and are receptive to pollen from other flowers in the morning, while releasing their own pollen the following afternoon (type A), or open and are receptive to pollen in the afternoon and shed pollen the following morning (type B). A solitary mature tree will produce over 100 avocados, but for highest yield A and B types should be planted together. The fruit can hang on the tree for 6-18 months, depending on variety.
"Of the 500 or so known varieties only some twenty-five are grown here. They are Guatemalan, P.a. guatemalensis, or Mexican, P.a. drymifolia, or hybrid avocado tree species. The Mexican varieties are smaller, look less attractive, but are much more cold-hardy. Known varieties are grafted onto a rootstock: growing your own tree directly from seed seldom produces good results, but there are occasional winners. The seed that Rudolph Hass bought and planted in 1926 in La Habra Heights grew into the mother tree from which all the producers of the now famous black skinned ‘Hass’ avocados descended."
Thanks, Pieter.
E-mail Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Photo Credit: dahon.blogspot
 Good morning. After an eventful week -- and let's face it, more anger and angst about the unraveling of Countrywide -- it's always nice to talk trees. Pieter Severynen, my tree-loving friend, has chosen a classic this week. Enjoy.
The California Fan Palm - Washingtonia filifera
"The only palm tree native to California evokes images of oases in the Southern California desert, Palm Springs and Twentynine Palms. In its native habitat, this fan palm grows wherever water comes close to the surface and as such is used as an indicator of potential earthquake faults. Strong and majestic, this moderately fast growing evergreen tree reaches to 60’ tall and 20’ wide, with a massive 2’ or wider gray trunk, ringed with old leaf scars. A thick, bark-like rind surrounds the trunk (like all palms, the tree does not have true wood or bark.) Flower stalks appear in late spring, followed by date-like fruits in fall. The 3' to 6’ wide fan-shaped gray green leaves are carried on petioles (leaf stalks) armed with vicious, curved thorns. When old leaves die and are not removed they bend down forming a thick "skirt'' that makes a welcome home to owls and rats, snakes and songbirds.
"The California Cahuilla and the Arizona Paiute Indians lived in the palms’ shade, ate their fruits, used the leaves for thatch, sandals and baskets, and set the trees afire every four years or so. This removed the dead shag, charred the trunks, increased seed production, removed competing plants on the ground and increased spring flows, but it did not kill the trees. In contrast, modern day withdrawal of groundwater for agricultural or urban use and subsequent lowering of the water table is often lethal to the trees; their hundreds of pencil thick roots go down deep but not endlessly so.
"Named in honor of George Washington (who may have never seen one), the California Fan Palm is used extensively in all Mediterranean climates for street tree and park planting. It is often confused with the more widely grown, invasive, Mexican Fan Palm, Washingtonia robusta, which grows faster and twice as tall, has a thinner, more slender trunk, smaller and thicker leaf crown, deeper green leaves, and reddish or brownish petioles. The Mexican Fan Palm is also immune to the Fusarium wilt fungus that is slowly killing off our Canary Island Palms, Phoenix canariensis, whereas the California Fan Palm is not. To make matters really confusing, the two palms hybridize easily, so that is sometimes difficult to identify particular individuals."
Thanks, as always, Pieter.
Email Pieter: plseve@earthlink.netnet
Comments? Questions? Email story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: desertusa.com
Blogger's note: The original photo in this post was replaced after a commenter observed that it appeared to depict Mexican Fan Palms. L.A. Land regrets the error.
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 Good morning, on a gloomy wet Saturday in the Southland. Who says there is nothing new under the sun? My tree-loving friend Pieter Severynen has found something new and different -- a new tree. Seriously, it's so new, you won't find any here in L.A. -- at least, not yet.
The Wollemi Pine – Wollemia nobilis
"New plants are still being discovered every so often in this wonderful world of ours. On Sept. 10, 1994, David Noble, a field officer with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and an avid rock climber, was hiking in a Wollemi National Park wilderness area 90 miles west of Sydney, Australia. Bushwhacking through some narrow canyons, he discovered 23 most unusual looking trees growing on exposed ledges. Subsequent research showed that the trees resembled 90-200-million-year-old fossils in the Araucaria family, once widespread in Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. The living fossils were named Wollemi Pines, although, like their current relatives, the Kauri Pines, Norfolk Island Pines and Monkey Puzzle trees, they are not pine trees. (One of the reasons we use one and only one botanical name for each plant is to avoid the confusion that comes with common names).
"An evergreen pyramidal tree up to 110’ tall with a trunk up to 3’ wide covered with bark described as ‘bubbly chocolate’, the tree stands out for the narrow, flat, horizontal leaves on the young branches, and the four rows of angled leaves on older ones. Whorled, horizontal branches without side branches carry a male or female cone at the end. Upright branches form new trunks. The horizontal branches die and fall off after the cone ripens. New branches grow from dormant buds on the trunk. The trees are self-coppicing, meaning that they form multiple trunks without the trunk having been cut down first. Tree ring counting established that the oldest multi trunks so far were about 350 years old, but the roots supporting the main trunks may well be much older. Without competition, young trees grow fast.
"The tree is listed as critically endangered. All the seeds are genetically similar, meaning that at one point the entire population may have gone down to one tree. Their exact location in the wild is being kept secret, for fear that visitors may unwittingly wipe out the whole population, as e.g. through introduction of root rot fungus spores clinging to their shoes. The Wollemi Pine Tree Recovery Plan aims to conserve the trees by selling seedlings to the public. First available in this country through the 2006 National Geographic Holiday gift catalogue, the tree is now expected to be on sale in nurseries in mid-2008. I don’t know of any Wollemi Pine currently growing in Southern California but I expect to see several in the coming years."
Thanks, Pieter.
Email Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net
Comments? Thoughts? Email story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: www.anbg.gov.au
 Good morning. These are the days for New Year's resolutions. As 2008 is an Olympic year, I resolve to learn how to swim.
I hope some of you out there are resolving to do your small part toward civic beautification by planting a tree. And I hope you will use my tree-loving friend, Pieter Severynen, as a resource. Here is Pieter's Tree of the Week:
The Southern California Black Walnut – Juglans californica var. californica
"After a year of almost no rain, our native walnut trees were stressed, but they still managed to keep looking graceful and to hang in there without any irrigation. In contrast the more formal looking English walnut, Juglans regia, with its larger, lush leaves and bigger fruit, familiar from the store, needs regular water. The SCBW prefers to grow on moist sites, northern slopes, and in streamside woodlands accompanied by oak or cottonwood. It grows into a small 15-30’ tall and wide deciduous tree. After a fire new growth will sprout from the root crown or trunk and thus the tree often develops several trunks, which are dark gray brown and covered with deeply furrowed bark. The feathery, 6-12” long compound leaves feature some 9-19 2 ½” long leaflets. The tree is resistant to oak root fungus. The fruit, green when young, black when ripe, contains a single walnut, with a hard shell and tasty if little meat. But it was a favorite food of the local Chumash Indians who did not enjoy the luxury of supermarket shopping. It also supports a variety of wildlife.
"Our SCBW tree is often used in native low maintenance plantings. Because of human population pressure it is declining in its natural range. Still it is doing better than its larger cousin up north, the Northern California Black Walnut, Juglans californica var. hindsii, of which only two native stands remain, although it has become naturalized in other areas. The northerner is used as a rootstock for the English walnut while that rootstock itself is the source for walnut burl in expensive furniture."
Thanks Pieter, for this and all your contributions this year.
Email Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net.
Photo Credit: csupomona.edu
 Good morning. We've been arguing about L.A. on this site this week -- whether the quality of life here is worth the price we pay to live here. Here's some quality: the region's stunning and seemingly boundless variety of trees. Pieter Severynen's tree of the week:
The Orange Tree – Citrus sinensis
"Oranges originated some 4,000 years ago in southeast Asia; their name derives from the Sanskrit ‘narangh.’ Alexander the Great brought the bitter or sour orange, Citrus aurantium, to Greece and the Moors cultivated it in Spain. When Columbus returned from his voyage to the new world he convinced the Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella that there was money to be made in the Indies: for his second trip in 1493 he acquired orange seeds and sugar cane cuttings in the Canary island of Gomera to establish commercial plantations. The first one was set up in Hispaniola; oranges later spread on the mainland from St. Augustine, Fla. But around that time European sailors brought the sweet orange from China to Portugal.
"That fruit caused an immediate sensation: not only did it have the scurvy fighting qualities of the bitter Seville orange, but it also possessed a delicious taste. The new fruit tree quickly spread in the Americas.
"This evergreen compact tree is beautiful year round, in bloom or fruit or without. Dozens of varieties reflect its long history. Note that mandarin oranges and tangelos are grouped in the Citrus reticulata species. If you want to buy an orange tree consult a good reference source, such as the Sunset Western Garden Book. Valencia oranges need less heat and can stand more frost than navels, while blood oranges vary.
"The rootstock (almost all Citrus trees are sold grafted) determines if the tree will be a globe shaped 30’ x 30’standard or a 10’ x 10’ or smaller dwarf and makes the tree bear fruit when young. Fruit may hang on the tree for a long time before it is fully ripe. Production is heaviest on the lowest branches. Cool nights cause the orange color and increase acid conte | |
Good morning, and happy Opening Day. (Opening Day for 4-year-old tee-ball in our family). Without further ado, Pieter Severynen's "Tree of the Week":
