Regular readers here may know that red flowering gums (Corymbia ficifolia) are my favorite tree species in San Francisco. They have spectacularly vivid clusters of red, orange, pink or white flowers that are at their peak right now (peak is July and August). My brother from Upstate New York visited San Francisco a few years ago - he hadn’t been here in a very long time, and he’s not really into trees, but when we passed a red gum in my neighborhood in full bloom, he suddenly stopped our conversation to ask me: “WOW, what is THAT”?

In addition to the eye-catching flowers, this tree absolutely loves San Francisco conditions. You will never see one in Sacramento, and it’s not going to be happy in Walnut Creek or Concord or Pleasanton - but it thrives here in our cool, maritime conditions. That’s not surprising, because the tree is native to southwest Australia, near Perth, where there is a similar coastal Mediterranean climate.

So I was very glad when I heard that our local Axios reporters (yes, Axios now has a local San Francisco newsletter) wanted to do a story on red flowering gums. You can read it here - it just came out, and yours truly snuck in a quote, to bemoan the fact that our Bureau of Urban Forestry in its wisdom has decided to stop planting San Francisco’s best tree (like, zero in the last year).

Why have we put the skids on planting red flowering gums? The official reason, from a spokesperson for San Francisco’s Public Works department, is that they need “a very large basin and wide sidewalk” to accommodate their size. OK … so that might explain why we are planting fewer of them, or only planting them in certain neighborhoods or on certain streets - but zero? I suspect the real answer is that Public Works doesn’t relish the future cost of maintaining large trees. Proposition E, which passed with 79% of the vote in 2017, provided funding to the City to maintain street trees, and shifted the responsibility for maintaining street trees to the City. Prior to that time, Public Works was happy to permit red flowering gums, because it was the homeowner’s responsibility, but since then - not so much.

But is cost a reason to abandon San Francisco’s best tree? Should we ditch the cable cars because they’re expensive? Just like the cable cars, these trees are part of what makes this wonderful city wonderful, especially in July and August, when tourists throng San Francisco.

So hey, Public Works, lighten up a bit - so we don’t have to say a long good-bye to San Francisco’s best tree!

https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2022/08/02/gum-trees-flowering-bloom-san-francisco