The University of California, Santa Cruz Arboretum is having its
fall plant sale this weekend.
The sale will feature colorful plants chosen specifically for
the Central Coast region.
The University of California, Santa Cruz Arboretum is having its fall plant sale this weekend.
The sale will feature colorful plants chosen specifically for the Central Coast region. Many of those plants are from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and are rarely available in the United States. California native plants – old favorites and new ones like a manzanita from Santa Cruz Island – will also be available.
The manzanita, Arctostaphylos insularis “Ward,” is being sold for the first time. Arboretum curator Stephen McCabe grew the plant from a cutting he took off one of the manzanita growing on Santa Cruz Island in 1991. He chose the manzanita because it looks lush in a dry garden. He named it after his father Ward McCabe. The manzanita grows to six to 10 feet tall, has mahogany bark and broad, shiny, bright green leaves. It also has loose clusters of white to pale-pink flowers.
The plant, along with other California native plants, including toyon, madrone and evergreen currant, create habitat and provide food for birds. The manzanita requires good drainage and sun along the coast, and light shade inland.
The plant sale, sponsored by the arboretum and the California Native Plant Society, will take place in the Eucalyptus Grove on Saturday from 12 to 4pm.
For more information and a list of plants on sale (by scientific name) visit http://arboretum.ucsc.edu.
