Trees in the Parkways
Maintenance: Responsibility of owner of adjacent property*
"Heritage Tree" species: Washingtonia robusta; common name - Mexican Fan
Palm
Initial planting: March, 1913 at sizes from 4 to 6 feet in height.
Planting trees in the Parkway: Requires a permit. No permits to plant a tree will be granted for locations next to Heritage Trees in Palm Haven. Allowing a tree to sprout from seed is treated as a planting and must either be removed immediately or a permit granted to allow it to grow into maturity.
* Parkway tree maintenance is normally the responsibility of the owner of the adjacent property. However, due to the unusual requirements to prune the 100-foot tall Mexican Fan Palms, the City of San Jose DOT handles pruning to maintain consistency and safety. Proper treatment of the trees, however, is still an important responsibility of the homeowner and is discussed below.
To find out if there are Heritage Trees adjacent to your property, click
HERE.
PROPER CARE OF YOUR MEXICAN FAN PALM:
Palms in Turf
When turf is planted near your Mexican Fan Palms, they should be
separated from the turf by a small mulched area that prevents the grass from
growing right up against the trunk. Weed-whip and mower wounds on palm trunks
are permanent and provide an entrance for diseases and insects. Palms in turf
should also be protected from sprinkler spray, both because the terminal bud may
develop a heart rot disease and because salts from water evaporation can encrust
on the trunk or leaves. Because irrigation schedules for turf are not adequate
for palm establishment, the trees should be on their own schedule that will
allow deeper watering to the 2' depth. This irrigation schedule applies to young
specimens.
Palms in other groundcovers
The City of San Jose permits groundcover plants or groundcover materials
in the parkways. Plant material should be kept away from the trunk of the
Mexican Fan Palms to avoid opening the trunk base to disease and insects.
Acceptable groundcover materials such as mulch or gravel may be applied up to the trunk of a Mexican Fan Palm provided that water can drain through the groundcover material.
Covering any part of the Parkway with concrete or other non-permeable material is prohibited.
Irrigation
Native palms grow at oases; they are not "drought tolerant." To some
extent growth rate can be regulated by watering practices. In general, trees
growing in sandy soils need irrigation more frequently than those planted in
clay soil. Established palms of most species do well with slow irrigation to a 2
ft depth every couple weeks in summer and the same amount every four to six
weeks in winter.
History:
Developer, Eaton, Vestal, & Herschbach, opened Palm Haven in 1913 with a high
level of street and streetscape improvements. This included
Macadamized streets,
curbing, a wide parking strip planted with Mexican Fan Palms, and generously
sized sidewalks. All this including the plaza in the center of Palm Haven and
pillars and Wait Station for the trolley line.
As described elsewhere in this site, Palm Haven was a "Residence Park". The whole focus of the Residence Park concept was in the beautification and integrity of the streetscape. It is the one thing that unifies the neighborhood regardless of the many sizes and styles of homes built in it. Nearly all the parkways of Palm Haven were planted with Mexican Fan Palms at 25 feet apart in 1913 prior to its opening. Newspaper interviews with Vestal prior to the opening revealed that the specimens of palm trees for the parkways were "larger and fairer specimens than we had expected to receive" and were planted at a height of 4 to 6 feet.
Arthur Cann Nurseries supplied the hundreds of palm trees.
Riverside Drive was part of the original Palm Haven development (originally called Riverside Avenue). It only extended to just past Plaza Drive. The lots on Riverside were the least expensive and least desirable at the time. Builders on Riverside Drive were asked to plant Mexican Fan Palms in the parkways when they built on those properties so they would tie to the rest of Palm Haven's streetscape. The earliest homes built on Riverside do have Mexican Fan Palms planted accordingly and they are not evenly spaced like the rest - demonstrating they were planted after the homes and driveways were built.
In subsequent years, the developers yielded control of the undeveloped property to investors who, in many cases, were building on speculation. The quality of the homes was variable and the adherence to the Palm Haven streetscape plan was not always followed.
The remainder of Riverside Drive (from Coe Avenue to just before Plaza Drive) was developed in the 1920s and was called the "Riverside Park" subdivision. It did not have any of the requirements or embellishments of Palm Haven.
Aileen Ortega, a resident of Palm Haven on 721 Riverside Drive since it was built in 1927, remarked in a 2002 interview that when she and her husband purchased their lot, they were encouraged to plant matching palm trees in the parkway. She and her husband had just finished a honeymoon in Canada and "fell in love" with the European White Birch. So they decided to plant them instead. The birches eventually died and were never replaced. She said she wished they had taken the advice to plant the Mexican Fan Palms as she saw today how important they are to the neighborhood and how they are so long-lived.
A big reason why Palm Haven stands out as one of the most intact historical residential districts today is because most Residence Parks that have survived have lost part of their streetscape appearance due to the use of other, shorter lived trees or trees whose regular maintenance fell into the hands of various homeowners through the years and often suffered or were changed as a result.
Most of Palm Haven's original streets still have their original palms in place.