Native Plant Fun Facts for our 30th Anniversary: Our Mighty Monterey Cypress!
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1998: GFE’s Monterey cypress looking over the garden and workshop participants. At this point, is is a low-lying tree. We wonder how old it was at this point!
As we celebrate our 30th anniversary this year and focus on it this week, there’s nothing more fitting than honoring the only plant that’s been on GFE land since the garden started in 1990. Our mighty cypress tree, which is likely a Monterey Cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa), often gets overlooked because it rarely requires maintenance, but it provides great benefit in the shade it provides and the refuge it offers to wildlife, including various birds (hawks, crows, scrub jays, bushtits, and others, both permanent and migrating), raccoons, insects, and more. It also provides a windbreak to the adjacent neighborhood and protects our upper storage shed.
Fall 2005: The overlooks a group of folks tending to a brush pile on the Lawton sidewalk.
The Monterey Cypress is a coniferous evergreen tree that primarily occupies coastal areas. It can get up to 130 feet tall and the trunk can grow to over eight feet in diameter. Most trees live approximately 100 years, and they grow 36 inches per year. The cones are a small .5 to 1.5 inches in diameter, and are a wildlife food source in autumn. The scalelike, waxy leaves are fragrant when crushed.
December 2009: The Monterey cypress tree after a trim in December 2009 (note the bright wood spots where limbs were cut)
Because of its affinity for blustery coastal regions, the tree sometimes gets flat on the top from consistent strong winds. It may also exhibit flagging, which happens when the wind blows frequently from one direction, giving it the appearance of a windblown flag.
February 2016: The tree overlooking the garden and adjacent houses on 7th Avenue
March 2018: GFE’s constant sentinel guarding the upper tool shed.
We are so grateful for our hardy, beautiful Monterey Cypress and hope it will stand tall over GFE for many, many years to come!
March 2019: The tree received a significant pruning after three limbs broke during a winter storm
May 7th, 2020: GFE’s noble Monterey cypress standing tall in all its glory
