I visit Delonix's old street. Bruce Street.

Wow! Thanks Stan for posting the pics of my old neighborhood. I really miss the old neighborhood. :>((

You have some spectacular plants over there and on such a monumental scale! It's makes you wonder what the first settlers thought of the plant life when they first came, how did they find out about the poisonous ones and the strange (to them) animals and insects and which to avoid? And it's all so pristine!

Wow just look at those tall Palms in row s what a wonderful area is the first photo a Mango Stan its fantastic.

Its been a warm summer. I thought after our cool wet winter,summer might be a bust. It hasn't. May- Now has been above average. I hear August will start off hot.
And yet-- Rhodos and Redwoods are still planted. Plenty of a mix of cold temperate plants next to something from hot Madagascar.
Andy- I got caught in the stop and go on Mission. That area is old and roads are not for handling the new growth. Took three light changes to make a left turn.
Still, Bruce street was quiet..off the beaten path.

I wonder if that Mango is alternate bearing or if it blooms late and THAT helps it to put all its spring and summer energy into foliage? I had never thought of that. I wonder if I tried a late summer flowerer I could get a tree to size faster?

Smashing blog and photo's Stan, thankyou for posting...

You're welcome Lin!

Stan,

It's actually Bruce Drive not street. LOL!

The climate in Mission San Jose, Fremont is one of the best subtropical micro-climates in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's probably one of the closest climates to here in San Diego...with the exception it's much warmer here in San Diego during the day and night during winter. I had much more palms and tropicals planted besides those king palms. The neighbors used to call it "Hawaii House".

Stan,

Yes, typically mango trees have an alternate heavy bearing years. I know last year the mango trees here were loaded and had two and three crops (which is even unusual for San Diego). This year it's more the normal bearing one crop which ripens August, Sept not in May or June like last year.

those palm trees are amazing!

Stan your blogs are like a visit "to foreign parts" to us stay-at -homes- all so very very different from our corner of Wales!

I looked at this and thought of The Eagles 'Hotel California' album ..... fabulous trees!

Thanks all.
Oop! I have to remember the drive part.
What a coincidence that three of the plants I like most- King palms,Echinopsis terscheckii and of course the Mango are not only on one street..but almost right across from each other.
It was a nice drive.

Stan,

There should be a big Rhopalostylis baueri 'cheesemanii' up the street, also. I gave it to the neighbor when I moved. It was doing well quite a few years ago. (of course, I moved from Bruce Drive back in 1998, it's been a long time).

Ah,shoot..I did drive a little down the street. I either missed it,or I turned left before we went the full length of the street.
I saw a trunking majesty- but its' trunk was hidden by tall hedges.
I would say,I had that "In a different climate" feel. If somebody who lives in San Francisco made that drive it would feel like they drove 380 miles to L.A. 25f warmer in Fremont that day.

Gosh, those palms are amazing - so tall & straight!

Stan,

If you go up Bruce Drive and stay to the right you may see the palm. If you turn to the left it'll take you around and back out to Washington Blvd.

I wish the Majesty palm wasn't cut down, it most likely would be more than 20 ft tall, as it was planted in 1994.

I can imagine how large the Manila mango would be also. It was planted in 1995. I saw it in 1999 and it was almost as tall as the eaves of the house (south-side of the house). It obviously was cut down, too.

Its a nice home Andy. New owners no doubt didnt want anything blocking their prize.
Sandra,this is near Mission San Jose. So,its palm history goes far back,and there are more then one palm lined streets close together. One is "Las Palmas"..and a Las Palmas park too.
Like a small tropical island.

Yes, Mission San Jose is a very palmy place. The back yard on this property had some really large king palms, also. They were much older than the ones in the the front yard.

It does? The home is tall..it was hard to see whats behind from the street.
Andy- you made international teaching news-
http://agrotips.co.uk/mangos-in-northern-california.html

What so funny is there's been several people in the Bay Area that have grown mango trees in the past. The really famous mango tree was the one in Santa Clara. It bore huge mangoes every year for years. It unfortunately died in the huge 1972 freeze. My friend Garrin knew the person. Several people supposedly took branches for grafting...can't remember what the outcome was, though.

My former neighbor in San Jose who had two beautiful bearing mango trees (years ago). She told me stories of many bearing mango trees in the Oakland Hills before the 1972 freeze. Luckily, there's better techniques on how protect trees during those big freezes which hit the Bay Area every 20 to 40 years. I know the biggest freezes to hit the Bay Area were in 1932, 1972 and 1990. (1990, of course, was the worst!). It also happened during the horrible 4 or 5 year drought.

No doubt- I hear we are getting below freezing temps,I'm covering and heating. From what I can tell,they take one or two nights of 32f...but after that wears them down. Or 28f. That killed of my tall Manila in 2007's freeze. That tree was in a pot and was all trunk but a few branches. My first real try at it. I should have dragged it into the garage for just 3 or 4 nights.
They are such good looking tree's too..love the red flush and the spring blooms.
I just knock on wood..no gophers,no bad tenants...something.

Yes, it just takes a little time to protect plants, trees we love. Usually, it's just a little freeze there with few days of freezing temps in the morning. It usually doesn't take much effort to try to save them freezing to death.

Mango trees are much hardier in the ground. They usually show damage at 25 to 28 degrees. However, many days of frost can cause some damage, also.

Exotic trees. Like Honeysuckle I wonder what the first settlers made of the unusual flora and fauna.

Eirlys,in California they found rich and deep soils and a friendly climate. What they didn't find was an eden of native edible plants. And at first they had to settle by running waters that ran all year.
That changed- fast.