ARCTOSTAPHYLOS. Manzanita. Mainly West Coast and Mexico. Tough, picturesque shrubs and small trees found in considerable variety in California. Their ornamental features include reddish to purple, often crooked trunks, round to pointed oval, green to greyish green leaves, and clustered, fragrant urn shaped blossoms, painted pink to white. The flowers are borne mostly in late winter and early spring and, often develop into attractive berries. Sun, well drained soil, occasional to no supplemental watering once established, except as indicated. Most are hardy to 0-10oF.
bakeri ‘Louis Edmunds’. An erect shrub growing around 6' tall, with purplish brown trunks, grey green leaves and showy pink flower clusters in early spring. It has shown exceptional heat and drought tolerance, yet is one of the easiest manzanitas to grow.
densiflora. Vine Hill manzanita. One of the smaller manzanitas, nearly prostrate to upright in habit. It survives as a species only in a tiny area of Sonoma County, but horticultural selections have found their way into landscapes all over California. Here are two of them.
‘Howard McMinn’. One of the most popular of the manzanitas, for several good reasons. It is rounded in form and profusely branched, growing 3-6' tall. It has shiny green leaves and abundant light pink flowers. It responds exceptionally well to pruning—even shearing, and tolerates a far greater range of soils and watering regimes than most manzanitas.
‘Sentinel’. More upright in habit than the last, and usually taller, reaching 6' or more. It also has stouter trunks, is more openly branched, and has longer leaves of soft grey green. It is reputedly less tolerant of irrigation and heavy soils than ‘Howard McMinn’, though certainly one of the less disease-prone manzanitas.
edmundsii. Little Sur manzanita. A matting species from the Central Coast. Most of its forms have small, nearly round leaves, reddish in new growth but dark green when mature. Both the flower clusters and individual flowers are small, though often colorful. ‘Bert Johnson’ is an introduction of the Tilden Botanic Garden, only recently named. It makes almost perfectly flat mats unless overcrowded. The stems are crowded with small greyish green leaves, bronze in new growth. The small flowers are white with a slight pink tinge. ‘Carmel Sur’ is somewhat more robust and taller. It has narrower, greyish leaves and white flowers. Both have proven more drought and heat-tolerant than the more popular bearberry, A.uva-ursi.
‘Emerald Carpet’. This fine introduction by the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden has already surpassed some old standard uva-ursi cultivars in popularity. It forms a dense mat of narrow, shining, emerald-green leaves, decorated by white flowers in winter. It requires moderate watering in hot summer areas.
‘Greensphere’. Another Rancho Santa Ana introduction, quite unique among the manzanitas I have seen. It is an extremely dense, almost perfectly round shrub, growing slowly to perhaps 4', with pointed dark green leaves and white flowers. It is said to be a selection (more likely a hybrid) of A. edmundsii.
hookeri. Monterey manzanita. This is one of our local natives, colonizing open hills around Monterey Bay. It typically forms broad carpets or low mounds, though some individuals are more upright, growing 4-6' or more tall. It has slender reddish to purplish stems and dark, usually shiny leaves. Flower clusters are small but often abundant, making a good display. Flower color is white to light pink.
‘Buxifolia’. A miniature form, apparently selected by the late Ken Taylor. It stays quite low and spreads slowly, with an intricate network of short, slender branches. The leaves are small, narrow and arranged in tidy rows.
‘Monterey Carpet’. The lowest growing of the traditional selections, making a rugged ground cover. It is distinguished by crooked, purplish stems, narrow pointed leaves and white flowers.
‘Wayside’. This is one of the most robust clones, growing about 3' high by 8' or more broad. It has attractive upsweeping, crooked trunks, the usual hookeri foliage, and white flowers.
‘Indian Hill’. Still another Rancho Santa Ana selection, this plant looks much like a small leaved A. edmundsii. It forms broad mats of shining, bright green foliage, quite bronzy in new growth. In winter it is decorated by small clusters of nearly white flowers. It appears that this selection may tolerate or even require more supplemental watering than most manzanitas.
insularis ‘Canyon Sparkles’. More like an arbutus than a typical manzanita in appearance, this plant was introduced recently by the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. It is a stout-trunked shrub, growing about 4' tall by 6' broad, with rounded, shiny leaves of bright grass-green, decorated in winter by 2" white flower clusters. A bit less cold hardy than most manzanitas.
‘John Dourley’. One of my all-time favorites, this is a selection that almost got away, having been rejected at one point for introduction at Rancho Santa Ana. It was rescued and named for the former Superintendent of Horticulture at Rancho Santa Ana by Michael Evans at Tree of Life Nursery. This is a sturdy, mounding shrub, around 3' tall and 6-10' broad at maturity. It has broad but smallish, blue-green leaves, bronze in new growth. The flowers are light pink, and the berries nearly crimson. We hope it will prove as durable as it is beautiful.
‘Lester Rowntree’. A robust hybrid, given to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden many years ago by Lester Rowntree and introduced by the Garden. It grows 10-15' tall and 12' or more broad, forming attractive purplish trunks. The leaves are a little over 1" long, roughly heart-shaped, and grey green in color. It makes a generous display of white blossoms, tinged basally with pink. This is a striking specimen shrub for larger gardens.
manzanita. A small, nearly umbrella shaped tree usually about 10' tall at maturity. It is remarkable for its beautifully gnarled, reddish brown trunks, large bluish to greyish green leaves and heavy clusters of white to pink flowers. My own selection is ‘St. Helena’, with stout, widely spreading trunks, bright cinnamon bark, grey green leaves and white flowers. ‘Dr. Hurd’, introduced by Saratoga Horticultural Foundation, is another fine selection, with even stockier, more upsweeping stems and greener leaves. ‘Hood Mountain’ is a possible hybrid with A. canescens, which I found on the mountain of the same name in Sonoma County many years ago. We are finally offering it for sale. It is similar to ‘St. Helena’ overall, but it has more purplish trunks and narrower, slightly greyer leaves.
nummularia. Fort Bragg manzanita. Actually an unnamed though highly ornamental selection of this unusual species, received from the late Ken Taylor. The plant is compact and nearly dome shaped, usually under 2½' in height. It has slender hairy stems and small, nearly round, glossy leaves. The white flowers are borne in small clusters. Recently we have added ‘Small Change’, a selection by Roger Raiche at the U.C. Botanical Garden, Berkeley. This one is distinguished by its smaller size, matting habit, and tiny, narrow leaves, contrasting nicely with reddish stems. Both will require moderate watering and, in hot summer areas, some shade.
‘Pacific Mist’ is one of the finest recent introductions by Rancho Santa Ana. It is a broadly spreading shrub, useful for ground cover, eventually mounding to about 2' tall by at least 10' broad. It has attractive pinkish younger stems, turning dark brown in age, and rather narrow greyish green leaves up to 2" long. Small clusters of white flowers decorate the plant in late winter. It is notably disease resistant for a grey-leaf manzanita.
pajaroensis. Pajaro manzanita. One of the most interesting of the manzanitas, but fast disappearing due to habitat destruction in the wild. It has spreading, zigzag trunks. The stems are densely hairy and heavily tinged with red when young. Large, pointed, deep green to bluish green leaves appear to clasp the stems. They are bronze to bright red in new growth. The large, dense flower clusters, appearing in late winter, range from white to nearly red in color. ‘Paradise’ is a robust selection, spreading in habit, with brilliant red to bronze new growth and deep rose pink flowers. Possibly even better is ‘Warren Roberts’, recently introduced by Roger Raiche. It is more upright and densely leafy than ‘Paradise’, with flowers nearly as dark. To confuse matters further, we are trying a new, relatively low-growing selection with very blue leaves and bright pink flowers. All should be reasonably drought tolerant, and hardy at least to 15oF.
refugioensis. One of the larger manzanitas, growing up to 10' high and about as broad. The trunks are stout and reddish brown in color. It has broad leaves, grey green in our material, clasping the stems. They are flushed with red to bronze in new growth. The flower clusters are large and vary from white to deep pink in color. Certainly hardy to 20oF or less; perhaps much less.
rudis ‘Vandenburg’. Several years ago I took part in a plant salvage effort at Vandenburg Air Force Base, where a mile-wide swath was being cleared for a Space Shuttle landing strip. This remains one of the most promising plant selections made there for ornamental use. It is a medium-large (about 7' tall, 10' broad in the parent plant), though compact, shrub. It has purplish stems and 1" broadly oval leaves, brightly tinted with red to bronze in new growth. Abundant clusters of small, pale pink blossoms dot the plant in spring. Probably 10-15oF.
stanfordiana. This is one of the most beautiful of all the manzanitas, with shapely, colorful trunks, thickly set, shiny leaves and the brightest pink (sometimes nearly red) flowers found in the genus. Unfortunately, it is also, as a species, one of the most susceptible to a host of disfiguring and lethal diseases. I have tried, and ultimately lost, several beautiful selections from the wild, the most recent being ‘Palisades’, previously described in this guide. New ones are on the way. Hope springs eternal for little children and horticultural fools. 0-10oF.
uva-ursi. Bearberry. A low, often prostrate coastal species, extremely popular for ground cover. The plants have closely set, narrow leaves, dark green in color, white flowers and red berries. Traditional favorites are ‘Pt. Reyes’, with stiff, dark leaves, and ‘Radiant’, with particularly lush, shiny foliage. ‘Massachusetts’ is a more recent arrival with narrow, closely set leaves reminiscent of ‘Emerald Carpet’ (see above) plus bright red berries. ‘San Bruno Mountain’, introduced by the late Ken Taylor, has heavy stems, strikingly large, thick-textured leaves, pale pink blossoms and showy berries. ‘Wood's Red’ is a compact, smaller leaved selection featuring generous production of large, bright red berries. All require moderate watering or some shading in hot summer areas.
‘White Lanterns’. This was selected by the late Dara Emery at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Though the parentage is unknown, I would guess it to be a form or hybrid of A. hookeri. It is a broadly dome shaped, intricately branched shrub, about 6' x 8' in the parent. Both the older trunks and younger stems are dark reddish brown in color, contrasting nicely with the pointed oval, bright green leaves. It is one of the heaviest blooming selections, with showy clusters of white blossoms opening from pink buds in late winter. Exceptionally resistant to disease.
‘Winterglow’. Quite similar in overall appearance to ‘Indian Hill’ (see above) but rising to 2-3'. Its slightly larger, darker green leaves display striking red and orange tones in new growth. The flowers are heavily flushed with pink. I first saw this making a fine low hedge at Rancho Santa Ana, where it was selected and introduced.