Palm Tree Ride 2012 Quick Recap

The weather forecast for Sunday was so iffy, snow, that I was pleasantly surprised that we had a turnout of 12 for the Eighth Annual Palm Tree Ride! These intrepid souls braved the cool weather (38F/3C, yes I know people in other areas of the continent would find that high particularly balmy, but we are talking about the West Coast here!) and on-again, off-again snow showers (though it only stuck to grass in a few neighborhoods, a dusting at best.)

The ride clocked in at a little under 8 miles, winding its way through inner NE and SE Portland, and wrapped up by 2pm (departure at 11:30am.) Many classic palm trees from earlier palm tree rides were in full force like the Gardenburger house* at SE 36th and Main:

All photos in this post unless otherwise noted courtesy of flickr user guttmjo

And the "I can't believe it's Portland" example at SE 22nd and Stephens:

Note this location looks damper and colder than it did on Wednesday.

Or the beautiful specimen at the Del Rey Apartments, NE 26th/Glisan/Buxton:

And...the Santa Monica Apartments:

The end of the ride/grand finale was NE 11th Avenue north of Knott, where Sean of Cistus Nursery resides. Riders got a special tour of his exotic backyard.

Sean made an interesting point about growing palms and plants/trees that "don't fit in" with the image of the Pacific Northwest: most of the deciduous street trees we see in cities like Portland or Seattle come from areas east of the Rockies, mainly the Midwest and Northeast. They are not natives. So why not spice up things a little? Add some color to the dreariness of the winter?

I know a lot of people don't agree with that sentiment. But occasionally I like to see flowers in January!

For more photos, check out guttmjo's Palm Tree Ride set on flickr.

*So called that because this was the former home of the founder of Gardenburger.