There are many species of Ribes, both evergreen and deciduous. A very nice evergreen species is Ribes viburnifolium with roundish, dark green leaves and dark red stems. It needs no irrigation, making it ideal for planting under oaks. It grows three to six feet tall and can spread to twelve feet.
A lovely deciduous species is Ribes sanguineum. It has dark green maple-like leaves and clusters of white, pink or red flowers in spring. It requires little water.
Trichostema lanatum (woolly blue curls) grows to three to five feet high and four to eight feet wide. The dark green leaves are pungent when bruised. The purple flowers are fuzzy and appear in spring. The plant will continue to bloom during summer and autumn if it is deadheaded. Trichostema takes full sun and needs…
Ceanothus, ‘California wild lilac’, is known for its wonderful spring floral display. Flower colors are either white or shades of purple-blue, while height can range from a foot or two to twenty feet. ‘Ray Hartman’ and ‘Cliff Schmidt’ are among the tallest of the Ceanothus, attaining heights of twelve to twenty feet. ‘Dark Star’ and ‘Concha’ are among the varieties…
Tops on the list of desirable shrubs is Arctostaphylos, commonly called manzanita. Again, there are many choices in this genus. Handsome and tree-like are ‘Dr. Hurd’, ‘Hood Mountain’ and ‘Austin Griffiths’. ‘Sentinel’ is one of the more upright varieties, eventually reaching five to six feet. Medium sized Manzanitas are ‘Howard McMinn,’ ‘Sunset,’ ‘John Dourley’ and ‘Wayside,’…
Fremontodendron is also known as flannel bush because the back of the leaves are fuzzy and soft. Showy yellow flowers appear in spring. This shrub takes full sun and is drought tolerant once established, requiring no irrigation at all. Its primary drawback is that it tends to be short lived, but it is fabulous while…