Fresno’s forest in the city is getting new life. Here’s what’s happening in Old Fig Garden
The soil in Fresno’s Old Fig Garden neighborhood – now home to old cedar trees that make up the heart of celebrated Christmas Tree Lane – was once considered worthless by many.
It was called “outlaw land” on hardpan, a solid layer that dried in the summer and flooded in the winter, pocketed with “hog wallows,” depressions left by pigs.
But with planning and perseverance in the early 1900s by driven developers and landscape architects, plus some serious manpower (what included blasting the hardpan with thousands of pounds of dynamite over three years to give new tree roots a better chance at growing), the hog wallow land started to be marketed as a new “Garden of Eden.”
The Old Fig Garden name was inspired by some early residents planting fig trees for farming. By 1919, more than 20,000 other ornamental trees had been planted along Van Ness Boulevard, with a final planting goal of 100,000 trees stretching all the way to the San Joaquin River in north Fresno.
Many of the trees – including deodar cedars, cork oaks, and eucalyptus along Van Ness and its side streets – are now aging or have died.
A volunteer “tree group” of concerned Old Fig residents was formed through the Fig Garden Home Owners Association to try and help keep the neighborhood green for decades to come.
They’re planning a first-ever event this weekend for tree-planting Arbor Day to educate people about Old Fig’s trees and encourage residents to replant those within the neighborhood’s original plan when old trees die.
“Over a course of 100 years, trees die and don’t always get replanted following that original plan, and this drought has been real tough,” said Dan Gallagher, a member of Old Fig’s tree group who is helping organize the weekend event that will feature two tree plantings, guided tree walks, and a celebration at nearby Gazebo Gardens nursery with food trucks.
One of the Saturday tree plantings will be near the original Christmas Tree Lane tree at Van Ness Boulevard and Pontiac Way, which is among Old Fig’s struggling cedars.
After it was decorated in 1920 in memory of a boy who died, neighbors started decorating their trees, too. The annual winter tradition along Van Ness Boulevard transforms the street into Christmas Tree Lane each December because of all the holiday spirit – at least 300 decorated trees and 140 decorated homes over two miles.
Gallagher said the deodar cedars along Van Ness are native to the western Himalayas and can live well over 100 years, but “given that our summers can be very hot, life span may be less than in their native habitat.”
Gallagher didn’t have an estimate of how many have died in recent years. In 2012, over 5,000 of the neighborhood’s trees were studied. At that time, around the start of the last drought, about 2% of the trees were recommended for removal, and 47% were in fair condition.
Gallagher has helped replant about 30 trees in Old Fig Garden over the past six years. That includes helping residents find trees to plant and getting county approvals for replantings along roads. Old Fig is a county island within the center of the city, with about 2,000 residences extending from Shaw Avenue to the north of Shields Avenue. It has a more rural feel than other Fresno neighborhoods and no sidewalks. Gallagher said its residents work together to keep it that way through the volunteer homeowners association.
Tree plantings have also been increasing in other Fresno neighborhoods through Beautify Fresno. And in December, advocates for more parks and green spaces in the city won a big victory when an appellate court ordered Measure P passed.
Trees improve quality of life, Gallagher said. He points to good planning and neighbors for making Old Fig’s forest in the city possible.
“These big shady trees, especially on a warm day, makes walking our neighborhood a little more enjoyable,” Gallagher said. “You don’t have to be in the sun. There’s a couple of streets where you’d be hard-pressed to even get sun. It’s quite the canopy.”
Old Fig Garden Arbor Day Celebration
Fig Garden Home Owners Association, Tree Fresno and the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners are hosting an Arbor Day celebration this weekend in Fresno’s Old Fig Garden neighborhood. Below is the schedule of events.
Saturday, May 1:
- 9 a.m. one-hour tree walks led by master gardeners, departing from the Fig Garden Woman’s Club, 4550 N. Van Ness Blvd., Fresno. Free parking available. Sign up at oldfigtrees@gmail.com.
- 10:15 a.m. tree plantings and ceremonies, at 4061 N. Van Ness Blvd. (northwest corner of Van Ness and Sussex Way) and 3968 N. Van Ness Blvd. (northeast corner of Van Ness and Pontiac Way).
- 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. food trucks for purchase at Gazebo Gardens nursery, 3204 N. Van Ness Blvd.
Sunday, May 2:
9 a.m. one-hour tree walks led by master gardeners, departing from the Fig Garden Woman’s Club, 4550 N. Van Ness Blvd., Fresno. Free parking available. Sign up at oldfigtrees@gmail.com.
How to get help planting a tree in Old Fig Garden
Fig Garden Home Owners Association has information on its website, oldfig.org, about how to find a tree that fits with the neighborhood’s original plan.
Horace Cotton, a landscape architect from San Francisco, designated different trees be planted on different streets.
Old Fig residents can contact Dan Gallagher at Dan.Gallagher@fresnounified.org for more information.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
