New Zealand Christmas Trees in Costco Parking Lot in Sand City, California by Ruth Paget
City planners in Sand City, California (part of Monterey County) planted New Zealand trees in the parking lot of Costco at Sand City be Seaside to help beautify grocery shopping trips.
This hardwood tree native to New Zealand and called Pohutukawa by the indigenous Maori people there has begun to grow red-orange flowers in May. The trees are being pruned to provide a tree canopy along sidewalks to the Costco store entrance.
These trees are relatively drought resistant once growing is established with flowers that seem to attract bees, migrating monarch butterflies, and hummingbirds.
On the Central Coast, Santa Barbara began planting these trees in the 1800s according to the Santa Barbara Beautiful website which follows:
https://sbbeautiful.org/new-zealand-christmas/
The nursery photo in the website below shows New Zealand Christmas Trees in bloom:
To add a nature walk dimension to your Costco outings, look up on the way to the store to check out the beginnings of a shaded stately tree canopy to the store.
Happy Strolling!
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
