What sort of trees are all of those that are planted along the I-5 from southern to northern California?

Question

I drove up to San Francisco from Orange County taking the five and I just loved all of those groves of trees that were all over the place for nearly the whole trip. They had dark bark at the trunk, and then the branches were almost reddish-looking but they turned grey right at the top. They weren't very tall and it was winter so they had no leaves. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I think you may be talking about the commercial pistache groves
along I-5. Gum trees are evergreen, so are olives, couldn't be them. A pistache tree that is similar is used in landscaping - the Chinese Pistache. It turns a gorgeous orange - red in the fall, even in Southern California where fall leaf color is rare.

Answer 2

Well, there are a lot of trees that grow in California, but none that I know of match your description. Your description best matches the description of the Northern Pin Oak and, while there are California Oaks here, I don't think Northern Pin Oaks grow here. Maybe it was a California Oak. Maybe the light was making the trees look a different color than they actually were.

Answer 3

I beleve they are gum trees you might check www.traderoutesnw.com

Answer 4

perhaps olive trees