This past July, Arizona State University began replacing the 110 Mexican fan palms lining iconic Palm Walk with date palms, which provide more shade plus an annual crop of Medjool dates.
Students over the next three years will see the gradual transformation of Palm Walk, in much the same way the Territorial Normal School at Tempe eventually morphed into the university they attend today.
The palms that lined Palm Walk were nearing the end of their life cycle, and thus the choice was made to replace them. The goal was not only to replace them with similar palm trees, but also with an eye toward sustainability, emblematic of the New American University approach to practical problem solving. The work will be done in three phases, with the central and northern sections being replanted in the summers of 2017 and 2018.
