Ward St. near bike path

Blue gums were the first of around 150 species of Eucalyptus imported from Australia to farms and gardens in the west. Initially they were widely planted for windbreaks, firewood and shade. They are so widely planted that many people recently arrived in California find it hard to believe they aren’t native. These are huge evergreen trees (up to 165 feet tall) that dominate the landscape. They are not the best choice for a city tree due to their size, litter from peeling bark, leaves and seed capsules, extensive roots with a propensity to sprout and brittle wood containing volatile oils.  Careful maintenance (corrective pruning, removal of fallen bark, dead branches and root suckers) as in the well maintained tree shown above, is required to keep negative attributes in check.

The photo on the right from Larkspur Past and Present shows this tree around 1930, on the left as it is today in 2012. Another photo in the Larkspur archives shows the site in 1908 without a tree which means the tree could be around 104 years old.