Manzanitas for Every Garden

15 March 2011 Prev Next

There's nothing better for all-season attraction in the garden than manzanitas, according to Bart O'Brien. As a rule, manzanitas like full sun, good air circulation, and good drainage, but they are more adaptable than people realize, he said.

O'Brien is the director of special projects at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG) in Claremont, Calif., and a co-author of the standard reference on native gardening, California Native Plants for the Garden. He spoke at a local symposium on native plants last month.

He noted four features that make manzanitas stand out: bark, shape, texture, and color.

bark: typically deep reddish brown, muscular, and smooth (though shaggy-barked varieties exist as well), usually visible through the leaves and with a sculptural structure often becoming more prominent with age.
shape: rounded forms, varying from the formal ball shape of a young Greensphere manzanita to spreading mounds.
texture: the stiff evergreen leaves form a nice backdrop, softened by the small rounded flowers and fruits.
color: leaves vary from medium green to gray-green to bluish green, some with reddish tints, and the new spring growth often offers a contrast. Depending on the variety, white to dark pink flowers can appear from fall to early spring, but most manzanitas bloom in the winter. Fruits are reddish.

O'Brien's favorite manzanita, Arctostaphylos australis, is one of five manzanitas native to Baja California. In bloom, the profuse pink or white flowers contrast strikingly with gray-green leaves. It resembles Stanford's manzanita, O'Brien said, but the Baja manzanita is easier to grow in garden settings and has grayer leaves. The only place I know of that sells the Baja manzanita, though, is RSABG's plant sale.

His second-favorite manzanita is widely available from nurseries. It's Edmunds manzanita, a spreading groundcover that has several named cultivars and tolerates part shade, clay soil, and some summer water. Most varieties stay 1-3 ft. high for decades. Use it to control erosion on slopes or under native oaks.

For clay soil, other dependable manzanitas include

Howard McMinn manzanita, the easiest and most adaptable one of all and still one of the best. It can get 8 feet high and nearly twice as wide, but can be pruned to fit into a 5-6 ft. space.

Sunset manzanita, which forms a spreading mound about 5-8 ft. high. Its new growth is coppery and its dense leaves hide the branches. Use it as a screen or background.

Parry manzanita, a small rounded tree about 10-12 ft. high notable for its gorgeous bark and graceful structure. One of the most common cultivars is Dr. Hurd. Use it as a specimen or focal point.

The biggest problem with manzanitas in gardens is not watering them enough when they're young, O'Brien said. Since the rigid leaves won't wilt to let you know they need water, for the first year he plants nonnative sacrificial annuals near newly planted manzanitas. The annuals will wilt when they need water, and if you water them just enough to keep them alive – but no more – you won't be overwatering the manzanita. In the winter, for instance, he uses Iceland poppy as his sacrificial annual.