San Diego Zoo Coconut Palm

[Alex High]

Hello folks,

So I've recently become really interested in coconut palm growing in SoCal, and I have two videos of beautiful specimens in Del Mar and Santa Ana on my YouTube channel, Palm Planet. Anyways, I just came across an old pic of what claimed to be a coconut growing at the San Diego Zoo from 2010, and originally I didn't think much of it, assuming that it was either a Beccariophoenix or that it was merely a temporary planting that would be poorly cared for and was surely gone by now, but when I looked closer I realized it was the real deal. Then when I was searching through Palmtalk threads of palms at the San Diego Zoo, I found two threads with pictures of it, from as recently as 2015, and it was still there. I also found some older pictures of it, apparently it was planted in 2006. I am assuming the three pictures of it in 2008-2010 are the same palm as the one from 2015. Interestingly it looks a lot better in 2010 and, seemingly, in 2015 than it did in 2009, and since it survived for that period and actually looked quite a bit nicer the more it grew, I was wondering if anyone had an update or knows if it's still alive. I will put the pictures I found below, I don't know exactly where in the Zoo it is but I really hope it's still there. Thanks!

 

September 4th, 2008:

https://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/59910-cocos-nucifera-coconut-palm

 

November 10th, 2009:

https://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/125732-cocos-nucifera-coconut-palm

 

September 9th, 2010:

https://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/176699-cocos-nucifera-coconut-tree-at-the-san-diego-zoo

 

In 2015 (the fifth pic in the thread is the coconut, I put the pic below):

[kylecawazafla]

Unfortunately I believe it died  I think they were doing construction in that section and it had to be removed. 

[Alex High]

7 hours ago, kylecawazafla said:

Unfortunately I believe it died  I think they were doing construction in that section and it had to be removed. 

That's terrible to hear, but thanks for letting me know! They should really plant another one, that's one of the best locations in California to grow them. Thanks for the update and I hope they replant!

 

Alex