The magnolia tree is a very well-known name in the flowering tree category. Not very appealing, to say it nicely - but when the warmest and sunniest season arrives, the jacaranda’s beauty shines once again with its lush green canopy, followed by its magnificent purple blooms. It looks sparse and a little sickly, depending on the tree. As the weather begins to warm up, the tree’s foliage slowly fills the canopy with yellowish-green leaves. But hey…neutral colors are all the rage…so apparently it works. So for the winter months, you’re left with an arrangement of bending grey wood in your outdoor space. Unfortunately, the jacaranda is a deciduous tree, which means that it loses its foliage every year. There are many wonderful features associated with the jacaranda, but even this beauty can’t be perfect in all aspects. The jacaranda is also a popular choice with urban planners due to its “pavement friendly” roots, which, unlike some other common trees like the ficus benjamina, is less likely to damage sidewalks and streets. It grows fast, but its size at full maturity is quite manageable because it typically only grows to roughly 25 to 40 feet in height, with similar dimensions in canopy spread. Once established, it’s a fast-growing tree that develops a bright green canopy of fern leaves against the tree’s grayish-brown limbs. When not in bloom, the jacaranda is still one of San Diego’s finest-looking ornamental trees. These flowers grace us with their presence for two months before falling and creating a carpet of color on the ground beneath. In late spring into the summer months, it’s hard to go a day driving through town without seeing at least one jacaranda and its popular lavender, bell-shaped blooms. One council member, explaining his vote to keep the jacarandas, said: “I’ve walked by jacaranda trees near my house and their beauty is really overpowering.Jacarandas are one of San Diego’s most spectacular flowering trees. Those trees, however, received a reprieve. Their leaves and flowers make a mess on our yards and patios that’s impossible to clean.” “Jacarandas are beautiful,” one resident said. In 2000, residents in Yorba Linda pushed to have the city remove dozens of the trees, saying that the sticky flowers were littering their patios and choking spa filters. “Have you even walked barefoot down a street lined with jacarandas?”Īnother resident told Smith: “After years of putting up with a year-round mess, I am about to put a chain saw to it. “We used to have a jacaranda in our frontyard - we chopped it down.” Maxwell went on the describe the sticky liquid that accompanies the flowers. “I would hazard a guess that you don’t have a jacaranda tree,” one Downey resident, Linda Maxwell, wrote to Smith. Times columnist Jack Smith in 1982 wrote of his love for jacarandas - and got an earful from the trees’ detractors. There was even a case of jacaranda envy years ago, when Costa Mesa residents learned that 11 trees removed from the city had been sold to Los Angeles and were planted as part of the refurbished Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. In 1990, The Times wrote about using jacaranda wood to create perfectly smoked meat. Developers used them to bring color to new housing tracts. Glendale in 1972 declared the jacaranda its official tree. Over the next few years, many cities planted the trees in parkways.
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