A Tree For All Seasons

I get so many questions about this tree, I thought I'd 'reprint' some authoritative information:

ARBUTUS 'MARINA' A Tree For All Seasons (The Hort Report, Fall 1995, San Marcos Growers, Santa Barbara, CA)

This evergreen tree is one of our best selling plants; and for good reason - its beautiful! We are so enthralled with it that we grow it in both a low branched form and a high headed form, and 5gal size up to 36in boxes - there aren't too many other trees that are worth this effort. If you have yet to see a good specimen of Arbutus 'Marina', we welcome you to visit our demonstration garden to see the 8yr old tree that is 25ft tall and 30ft wide. The smooth red bark really sets the theme of this section of the garden with most of the color being elements other than flowers. Plants in this area include new hybrids of New Zealand Flax, Astelia, Canna, sedges, bamboo and grasses. Arbutus 'Marina' is a large tree, growing to 50ft tall with a broad dense crown. The upright branches are covered with a smooth mahogany colored bark which exfoliates in late summer to expose the next year's bark - at this stage a beautiful cinnamon color. The dark green leathery leaves of A. 'Marina' are 4-5in long. Flushes of bronze colored new growth from spring throughout summer add interest and lighten the overall look of the tree.

THE FLOWERS - The pendulous clusters of urn-shaped white blushed pink flowers are produced year-round along the coast, with peak in spring and fall. The fruit that follows also appears heaviest in spring and fall in such a manner that the later yellow fruit are also visible while mature red fruit is still on the tree. This adds further to the decorative qualities of the tree as it almost appears as though the tree has Christmas decorations upon it. The fruit is edible with a flavor likened to a mixture of kiwi fruit and strawberry but as with the fruit of the common Strawberry Tree, A. unedo, the texture is gritty.

ITS HISTORY - How A. 'Marina' made its way into cultivation is a curious story. Even though many people have appreciated this tree for better than half a century, it wasn't named and introduced into the nursery trade until 1984 by the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation (SHF). The SHF took their cuttings from a tree in Victor Reiter's San Francisco Garden. This tree had been planted in 1944. Mr. Reiter had aquired his plant in 1933 when he was allowed to take vegetative cuttings from a boxed specimen that was at Strybing Arboretum. The Strybing Arboretum, under director Eric Walther, had purchased the boxed tree from the closing down sale of Western Nursery on Lombard St. in the Marina District. Charles Abrahams, the owner of Western Nursery, was thought to have taken cuttings from trees that were sent from Europe for a 1917 horticultural expostion, one of which was probably this beautiful tree. It is not clear what the exact parentage of A. 'Marina' is although there is speculation that it is either a very good selection of A. ×andrachnoides or a hybrid between this species and A. canariensis. To further add confusion, it should be noted that A. x andrachnoides is itself a naturally occuring hybrid of A. unedo and A. andachne, and that A. canariensis is considered by many to be an insular form of A. unedo. Confused? - It's hard not to be but at least we can appreciate this tree for it's beauty and adaptability in the California garden.

More drama in the garden!

My Fucraea foetida has sent up a bloom spike in the last few week, about 20ft or more tall now and starting to send out the secondary branches which will hold the delicate flowers. While related to Agaves, Furcraeas are much more 'refined' in that they are more often spineless and have a more open inflorescence structure. And the flowers hang down so you can see into them even though they are so high up in the air. I find them fascinating.

The straight, green leaves are about 6-8ft long, standing in a dome-like, loose, rosette, often with raggedy edges which are a bit suggestive of spinyness but are not spine tipped. The spike rose like a giant asparagus shoot very quickly, raising all sorts of reactions from the neighbors! It now has its very tip nestled in the branches of the Redwood tree behind, probably higher than I could ever reach with my pole pruners. It truly dominates the intersection in front of our house at the moment.

The current state of my garden

My small parcel of land is in sad disarray at the moment. Not that my climate precludes having 'something doing' at this time of year - indeed, there seems to be activity regardless of my neglect, which is the real cause of the problem. Fall clean-up never really happened, and the 'Christmas clear-away' was also missed!! I'm hoping for a 'New Year's new start', but there is a significant amount of construction and painting happening to my building in the next weeks, so I'm sure that will cause a disruption to my plans as well!

The lower slope, which faces south west, is currently blooming madly with Oxalis pes-caprea! Quite bright to those unfamiliar with this horrible weed, but striking fear into the hearts of those interested in planting other winter growing plants. We have the pentyploid (2.5 the normal chromosomes) mutant which is much larger and far more vigorous than the type (diploid) species. Though sterile (due to the odd number of chromosomes), it more than makes up for it in all other ways. California is lousy with the stuff, the only saving grace being its short season of growth. We removed and sifted out many bulbils last summer, but those that remain seem to be thriving because of our efforts! I merely pull handfuls of the succulent greenage from areas where I have other plants trying to survive, and it seems to make a bit of difference (fewer and smaller Oxalis) over time.

Meanwhile, Geranium incanum is getting ready for an early spring bloom, my plant cascading gently over a wall at the base of this slope. I pull away the mat of stems under those on top of this spill, thinning it out and creating a more delicate effect (this plant can be a thug!).

A shrubby Velvet Groundsel (Roldana petasitis, = Senecio p., Cineraria p.) is growing close by, its large, rounded, scallop-lobed, felty green leaves always attracting interest and an occasional 'feel' from passerbys. Its deep maroon brown-red, clusters of flower buds are interesting until they open to reveal the raggedy yellow daisies (at which point I promptly remove them). Other plants in evidence (among the disarray of weeds and overgrowth!) are Echium pininnana and Geranium psilostemon. The former is a new plant for me, and I am pleased with the rapid growth of its rosette, promising a handsome, tall spike of flowers this spring. The latter is in a 'leaf stage' - a nice clump of rounded, lobed leaves (magenta flowers will surmount this most of spring and summer). Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold' is very bright right now, looking much like a gold-toned heather. I mean to relieve its 'lumpy' shape by taking selected cuttings when I get a chance, finding that it looks best when allowed to grow in the more horizontal, up-swept form typical of this cultivar. A large unnamed Verbascum has made a huge yellowish rosette in this part of the garden, much to the chagrin of my wife, who constantly reminds me that I said it would be smaller in size (how was I to know! - it had always been smaller in the poorer soils and minimal irrigation in which it grew before!). She feels it sets the planting 'off balance', but is willing to wait for flowering and seed gathering.

Also far too large is Agave angustifolia 'Variegata', planted across the stairs from the site just discussed, and protruding obnoxiously into the walking space! While it is unquestioningly very beautiful, its rounded form of stiff, spiky leaves, a soft celadon green with a broad creamy edge, bedecked with deep red-black thorns, it must go soon! I thought it would flower before growing larger (I seem to have this problem, I guess!) but it does not seem ready to give up growing in girth just yet. I'm going to need to rent a large pry-bar and try and lift this guy out of his bed and move him (somehow) down to a public succulent garden here in town, where he will be a featured attraction, no doubt!

Tecomaria capensis, a melon orange form, towers behind, apparently not minding its shabby seed-pod crown, still throwing out a new flower spike or two, even though the weather long ago cooled lower than it usually prefers. Its dwarf yellow cousin is behind, shooting out long, lax branches in all directions, seeking to claim more horizontal space than its vertical companion. It cascades over the largest Agave attenuata in the garden, whose large, soft, wavy, sculpted leaves were slightly damaged in the last hail-storm, but now are being replaced quickly by fresh, new growth. I hope for a nice, tall, 'foxtail' inflorescence this spring - a thick spike densely clothed in yellow flowers and with a characteristic limp, 'crooked' top. While I feel the garden is a pretty sad sight right now, it does still cause some to stop and admire (or perhaps they are aghast!). Many of you who have read my ramblings before have imagined a large, spacious few acres to contain all that I explain! It is a very modest space, and perhaps much of the content is only evident to the gardener himself (moi). But then gardens are often that way, especially when the gardener has other things to do beside spend the days tending that bit of the natural world (sigh!).