“That could be a nearly $3,000-a-year habit.” What to do? “Figure out how to grow the darned things myself.” And he did, 12 years ago planting a grove on his Lafayette property. “I can eat three or four avocados a day,” he says. He says he got into growing avocados because he’s addicted to them. Gary Gragg sells several cold-hardy varieties suitable for the East Bay at his nursery, Golden Gate Palms, in Richmond. Gary Gragg with his favorite avocado, Mexicola Grande (Photo by Kara Gragg) Some varieties self-pollinate, making two trees unnecessary. The trees can be topped and kept to six feet without harm, says Katherine Pyle, founder of the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) Golden Gate Chapter. In truth, many avocado cultivars are hardy and can take cold down to 25 degrees (once they make it past juvenile stage). But the mania never made it to Northern California, perhaps because there’s a perception that we have too much frost for this subtropical tree, native to Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. When an avocado craze swept Southern California back in the 1920s, many trees were planted on small lots. Plus, they make a mess if you don’t harvest the fruit. Add to that the common caveats: you need two trees for pollination, taking up even more space, and they create deep shade so you can’t garden under them. Why have more trees not been planted? It could be that many homeowners are concerned that an avocado tree would overwhelm a small urban or suburban lot, since left to their own devices most avocado cultivars grow to well over 30 feet in height. Many were planted in the 1960s and ‘70s, but there are rumors of trees over 90 years old.

Some are majestic, towering gorgeously above Victorian mansions and dropping their fat fruit from great heights. Hearing reports of avocado trees growing quietly among us, I followed clues in search of these elusive trees and found them living almost unnoticed all over the East Bay, from Fremont to Antioch. But what about our beloved avocado (Persea americana)? The East Bay produces a cornucopia of tree fruits that we love to eat, such as apples, figs, and plums. Invisible no longer STORY AND PHOTOS BY JILLIAN STEINBERGER

East bay san francisco