House of England in Balboa Park (International houses display)

I never knew that they came single trunked!

Tugbrethil:

Sometimes they are single-trunked ( I think some trunks could have been cut out also). Most of the time they have many dozens of trunks though.

Maybe here, the only ones that survive the occasional fierce winter are the ones that sprout from the base.

Tugbrethil:

I don't think of Phoenix as having a fierce Winter. Do you live in the mountains of Phoenix?

No, but every 10-15 years we get this cold wave coming through, which takes the winter lows down into the low twenties, or even the high teens. 2006 was the latest, and possibly the worst, of those.

Tugbrethil:

Wow! That's cold!

Must have been the cold weather of mid-January of 2007. San Diego had the coldest weather in 60 years...I considered myself lucky...as my coldest temps was one morning of 35 degrees and two other mornings at 39 degrees, however, the inland canyons and valleys got much colder. Also, I know the low deserts of CA. had the worst freeze in 75 years.

That was it! I just couldn't remember when in that winter it was. Normally, we get 3-6 frosts a year, running around 28-30 degrees each. This last winter, the inner parts of the cities never got below 35 deg.

Tugbrethil:

28 - 30 degrees F. is cold...but if dry, it usually doesn't do much damage to subtropical plants or trees.

I typically get only 2 nights of around 41 degrees F. in the winter and no frost ever. I'm located on a south mesa at 460 feet altitude...so the air-drainage is perfect here.

Lovely, the perfect microclimate!

Tugbrethil:

It's as good as it gets in California. : > )

It dropped to an official 30f in 2007,but I think it was the many more hours of it that did so much damage to plants that can take a fast zap of that most other years. 2013 was no fun either.

I didn't realize 2013 was a cold winter up there.

It cut my Mango to near the ground in its pot. Why,I tell people in the bay area to plant them out. They are hardier to cold in ground then a pot.
Now its 7' or so. We have a warm to hot September coming up and I'm hoping for another foot of growth.

Mango trees are definitely much hardier in the ground. Once they mature they can withstand quite a bit of frost with minimal damage. The ones in the Coachella Valley withstood the horrible freeze of Jan. 2007. It was the worst freeze in the low desert in 75 years.

Did you see my seedling tree pic which rooted within less than a week and grew quickly to 10" tall? It's less than three weeks old and the leaves are just starting to turn light green, from bright burgundy. I've never had a mango grow so quickly from a seed.