This native plant is of variable appearance, but generally has narrow bluish green foliage and blue to purple flowers. The variety ‘Margarita Bop’ was discovered at Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita. It sends up wands of fuchsia and violet blue flowers in spring and early summer and requires little to moderate water, as do other heterophyllus.
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…
Zauschneria, or California fuschia, is a low spreading plant with green, grey or silvery foliage and orange to scarlet flowers. Bloom occurs in late summer or autumn and the flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds. The plant is fast growing and drought tolerant, but as with most plants, it looks better with occasional water. It…
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,’…