87 Hill Japanese camellia ( Camellia japonica), E Asia (though usually grown as a shrub for its beautiful late winter/spring flowers, Japanese camellia is actually a small tree note shrubby forms in front of the neighboring house)ģ9. 949 Guerrero Raywood ash ( Fraxinus augustifolia ‘Raywood’), C & S Europe, NW Africa, SW Asia (tree is on the north side of Hill Street a selected seedling found in a South Australia garden)Ģ3. 99 Hill Jacaranda ( Jacaranda mimosifolia), Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (watch for the big show of blue purple flowers soon these heat loving trees are becoming more common in SF, especially in warmer areas like the Mission District-all thanks to climate change)Ģ2. Hill Street, Guerrero to Valencia, south sideĢ1. Guerrero median Shoestring acacia ( Acacia stenophylla), Australia, mostly in the interior of the continent (many trees are planted in the median for several blocks of Guerrero long slender leaves) 940 Guerrero Camphor trees ( Cinnamomum camphora), E and SE Asia (two trees across the street, recently pruned to be quite open this tree prefers more summer warmth and is seldom planted in SF)Ģ0. 906 Guerrero Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii), West Coast & Rocky Mountains to S Mexico (tall conifer with needle-like leaves across the street a CA native tree!)ġ9. White arrows on the pavement provide directions whenever a turn is needed.ġ9th Street, Linda to Valencia, north sideġ8. Numbered trees are labeled with common and scientific names and country of origin, all written in white chalk on the sidewalk accompanying numbers, in blue, run from 1 to 45. This one-way walk is under two miles in length. Go back to Valencia to return to the start of the tour. The tour ends here unlike most of our tours, this is a one-way route, not a loop. Head south on San Jose to the SW corner of 23rd Street. At Guerrero, cross 22nd and head back east on 22nd to San Jose Avenue, then south on San Jose to Alvarado Street, west briefly on Alvarado and then back to San Jose. Continue south on Valencia to 21st Street, west on 21st to Guerrero, south again on Guerrero to Hill Street, east on Hill to Valencia, south on Valencia to 22nd, and east on 22nd to Guerrero again. Head west on 20th to Guerrero, then south on Guerrero to Liberty Street, and east on Liberty back to Valencia. Head east on 19th to Valencia Street, then south on Valencia to 20th Street. Today’s walk begins in front of the Mission Pool and Playground, on 19th Street at Linda Street. In addition to some striking mature trees and magnificent Victorian-era homes in the Liberty Hill area, there are plenty of appealing dining and drinking establishments to enjoy along Valencia Street. We have touched on this neighborhood before, but this tour focused on the blocks between Valencia and Guerrero. Yes, another chilly, overcast, and ridiculously windy summer day in San Francisco… We chose to focus today’s walk on a portion of the Mission District that merges with the Liberty Hill Historic District, between 19th and 23rd streets and between Valencia and Guerrero streets. All of the beech trees in urban and suburban California are European beech ( Fagus sylvatica). You’ll never see an American beech in the Bay Area - the tree can’t handle the compacted soils of our cities, and I suspect 8 months without rainfall is also tough for a tree that’s used to the rainy East Coast. One reason I was happy to find my old friend is that I hadn’t seen one of his kind in a long time. That’s me with my tree in the photo above. A few weeks ago I visited that exact spot to see if it was still there, and was so happy to see it thriving. I tried to find my old friends, the gigantic smooth-barked giants of my childhood, but they were all dead - I saw occasional stumps, but nothing else.īut it wasn’t all sad - I remember clearly planting a beech sapling in the 1970s in a clearing just behind our home in Poland, New York. Sadly, since I left the northeast, American beech trees have been suffering from beech bark disease, disease that causes mortality and defects in the trees. I absolutely loved these trees - stately, with beautifully smooth grey bark, and beautiful leaves - one nature writer wrote that “an unearthly pale pure green clothes the tree in a misty nimbus of light”. I could walk out my door and follow trails leading into the forest behind our home, and within minutes I’d be deep in a dark forest of American beech trees ( Fagus americana). I grew up in a maple/beech climax forest in Herkimer County, New York.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |