Arboreal Splendor: Experience Palos Verdes Estate’s Ancient Moreton Bay Fig Trees By Writer and Contributor NJ Jaeger
“These trees are iconic and give the city character it otherwise would not have.”
The majestic Moreton Bay Fig trees of Palos Verdes Estates are the city’s most imposing arboreal landmarks and a unique visual experience. Recognized as historic cultural monuments in other cities the Moreton Bay Fig tree originated in eastern Australia and was planted on the West Coast in the late 1800s. Palos Verdes Estates’ Moreton Bay Fig tree grove starts where the single lane cliff-hugging Palos Verdes Drive West becomes a serene, panoramic two-lane drive. The Peninsula loop is often noted in guidebooks as one of the most beautiful daytrips in California. The largest specimen is found on the median path at Palos Verdes Drive West and Dalton Road.
“It’s art!” - Vini
Residents feel passionate about the arboreal giants that provide the bucolic backbone of the city. Each day hundreds drive, walk their dogs, and run beneath the ancient friendly mammoths whose massive canopies shelter them from the sun and rain. Standing like Old Guards on formal guard duty, these extraordinary living sculptures bring a sense of community, calm and connection. A refuge from the strains of everyday.
Ficus macrophylla, its Latin genus name, means edible fig with large leaves. The handsome Moreton Bay Fig leaves are glossy green with brown undersides reminiscent of a Magnolia tree. It’s large surface-dwelling octopus like buttress roots form an extensive food cavity system.
Moreton Bay Fig trees flourish in the Peninsula’s Mediterranean climate and produce large amounts of tiny, densely seeded fruit virtually year-round; they are a reliable food source for birds and other wildlife but are unpalatable to humans. These inverted flower clusters are pollinated by the diminutive fig wasp.
This holiday season give yourself the perfect gift with a walk or drive amongst the Peninsula’s glorious arboreal works of art. Park at the Bluff Cove turnout for a 30-minute or 60-minute self-guided Moreton Bay Fig tree tour along Palos Verdes Drive West median’s crushed granite path to the city boundary. The 30-minute flat walk path tour ends at Lunada Bay Plaza, a picturesque shopping village where you can grab a coffee, sandwich or pastry at Java Wave, enjoy pizza at Raffaello’s, indulge in frozen yogurt or linger over lunch at the cafe. A shopping gem for visitors and locals alike is Annie’s Boutique.
NJ is a storyteller who has written in many voices for clients in health, education, entertainment, food, sport and politics. Her firm managed publicity for documentary films, book authors and the U.S. Championships. Now NJ represents nonprofit groups, political campaigns and lifestyle celebrities across the global environmental movement. NJ received the Lynn Weaver Award from the Entertainment Professional Publicists Society for her lifelong commitment to philanthropy and community volunteerism.