An arborist friend told me that downtown Chico is home to a date palm that has been known to produce edible fruits.
I am not sure whether to be impressed or fearful.
While I am all for fruit-producing trees in the urban area, the idea that the concrete jungle of downtown Chico maintains a warm enough environment (the "heat island effect") to support a date palm is a bit unnerving.
About Me: Jeremy wears many hats, including substitute teacher, school garden educator, hike leader, youth group advisor, Gardener's Swap Meet coordinator, husband, and father. His lifelong quests include the search for the perfect burrito, and more recently, how to sprout an avocado tree from a pit.
Don't the date palm and the avocado share the same growing requirements?
I would ask Sherri S. While I occasionally see locally-grown bacon-type avocados at the farmers market, the dates we get are from Coachella.
The question is, would a date palm in someone's back yard do as well as one growing amidst the concrete of downtown.