Long and lean, the palm tree has stood tall as L.A.’s arboreal mascot for more than a century. In the late 1800s, the trees were planted by developers eager to give the area the look of a tropical ...

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts. When many of us think of Los Angeles, there’s a palm in the picture.

A reader surprised me with an inquiry about a mature Mexican fan palm dying suddenly here in Napa. A possible cause came to mind, as I saw one dying of a fairly common disease — pink rot — a few years ...