We provided new palms for the City of San Francisco to plant in the median strip of Dolores Street in the Mission District. They used a big crane today to lift the trees into place. Date palms can be transplanted very easily from fruit orchards in the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs. The leaves will stay tied up for a month or so, until new roots have developed.

Just as there are different kinds of apples, like Granny Smith and Gravenstein, so are there different dates. These are called “Zahidi.” It’s too cool in San Francisco for these trees to make edible fruit. The date palm was one of the first domesticated fruit trees.

These are the only true date palms on Dolores Street. Most of the rest are Canary Island date palms, Phoenix canariensis. They are cousins.

A new Zahidi date palm with the crane that planted it