Arctostaphylos spp. (Ericaceae) Manzanita
Grown by Betsy Clebsch in La Honda: 
Betsy says that her manzanitas are the backbone of her garden. California is blessed with so many manzanitas in so many forms and sizes filling so many different niches that, whatever space you need to fill in your garden, there’s an Arctostaphylos for it. Betsy showed us two really good ones. A. ‘John Dourley’ has an interesting history. It was selected and trialed by Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, but they rejected it for introduction. Michael Evans at Tree of Life Nursery rescued it, named it after the past Superintendent of Horticulture for RSABG, and introduced it to the trade. Now many nurserymen rate it one of the best garden manzanitas. It tolerates clay soil and is a sturdy, easily grown shrub that will make a compact, 4 ft. high x 6 ft. wide mound with mahogony to black bark. Its new growth is bronzy scarlet and matures to blue-green with a thin, red margin. From the beginning of January, it blooms for two solid months with clusters of pink flowers. Nearly crimson berries follow so quickly that they can mingle with the flowers for a while. A. ‘Winterglow’ was introduced by RSABG. This one is also easy to grow and should reach about 3 ft. high by 5 ft. wide with a relaxed habit. Betsy recommends letting it spill down a slope or over a wall. RSABG has used it very effectively as a low hedge. It’s densely covered with dark green foliage and, in winter, the stems are topped with glossy, bright red new growth. It blooms heavily with pink buds opening to white flowers flushed with a little pink. Reddish berries follow. Both of these selections take full sun and are drought tolerant but happy with occasional water.  All manzanitas are important food sources for wildlife during the winter months. Bees and hummingbirds love the nectar and larger birds love the berries.

Euryops virgineus ‘Tali’ (Asteraceae) Honey Euryops 
Grown by Liz Calhoon in Los Altos Hills: 
This is an evergreen shrub native to South Africa. It has much-branched, upright stems that are densely set with very small leaves making this a very pretty foliage plant with the fine-textured look of a heath. From November through April it’s covered with dense clusters of small, honey-scented, yellow daisies that are honey bee favorites. Liz’s grows about 3 to 4 ft high and wide. It’s easy to grow in full sun with occasional water and decent drainage. Prune it hard after flowering to prevent legginess. After a few years, you may need to replace old plants when they become uncontrollably leggy. Fortunately, they’re fast growers and propagate readily and bloom quickly from cuttings.

Gladiolus tristis (Iridaceae) Marsh Afrikaner
Container grown by Sally Casey in San Jose: 
Sally had a container of year-old seedlings and was wondering when she could reasonably expect flowers. The answer from our knowledgeable members was that some would provide a few blooms the second year and she can expect good flowering the third season. When it does happen, the inflorescences will rise about 2 ft. and bear 6 or perhaps up to 20 creamy white, funnel-shaped flowers. They are fragrant at night with the strong scent of carnations and cloves. This is a winter growing, early spring blooming native of the Cape region of South Africa where it grows in dense colonies in marshy areas. It has escaped cultivation in Australia and in California where it has naturalized in Monterey and Santa Barbara Counties.

Insectivores
Container grown by Kerry Barrs in Woodside: 
Kerry keeps a couple of insectivorous plants in his terrarium to help control gnats. Both are “active wallpaper” types. The leaves have glands that secrete very sticky, sweet mucilage (the wallpaper part) that traps small insects. Then the leaf will alter its shape (the active part) to maximize contact between the digestive secretions and the insect body and to maximize absorption of the resulting nutrients. The insect usually dies of exhaustion of asphyxiation long before the leaf completes its active response. Kerry showed a hybrid sundew, Drosera venusta x (Droseraceae). Sundews are found almost worldwide and usually prefer acidic soil and boggy conditions. D. venusta is native to South Africa and grows about 3 in. in diameter. Like its parent, Kerry’s hybrid has long, narrow, round-tipped leaves in a rosette pattern but is expected to stay smaller. Its bug trappers, called tentacles, are slender, red stalks topped with a sticky droplet so the leaves look like they’re covered with fine, red hair and dew. His other insect eater is Mexican Butterwort, Pinguicula caudata (Lentibulariaceae). It’s now classified as P. moranensis and is native from Mexico into Guatemala where it’s usually found in woodlands clinging to boulders, rocks, and tree trunks. It’s considered the most beautiful of the butterworts. In summer, the wet season in Mexico, it is a rosette up to 8 in. in diameter of sticky, succulent leaves. They’re light green with a pink tinge in the sun. The leaf margins can curl to enclose insects at the edges and the leaf surface away from the margin can form  dished depressions under the little carcasses. As the cool, dry season begins. the summer leaves die and are replaced by much smaller, crowded, non-carnivorous leaves and the plant rests until the rains resume. Both of these forms flower beautifully producing showy, carmine pink, flat-faced blossoms that resemble violets with very long spurs. In general, insectivorous plants can be very sensitive to changes in mineral concentrations in the root zone and should be watered with distilled or rain water. They are adapted to receive nutrition through their leaves and often lack enzymes necessary for extracting nutrients from the soil.

Lapeirousia oreogena (Iridaceae)
Container grown by Judy Wong in Menlo Park: 
Judy bought these little beauties from Annie’s Annuals. Only 3 in. tall, with sword-shaped leaves with crinkled edges, its flowers were about as close to navy blue as flowers can get. The tepals are marked with a cream-colored triangle set on a nearly black blotch at the base and they reflex back from the mouth of a very long, slender throat. Their only pollinators are 2 species of long-tongued flies who can reach the nectar and find dark blue flowers with white markings especially attractive. They are spring-blooming, dry-season-dormant corms native to the northwestern Cape in South Africa where they grow in heavy, red clay and receive only winter rainfall. They should love growing here except for maybe the pollinator thing.

Leucadendron ‘Wilson’s Wonder’, syn. L. ‘Bell’s Sunrise’ (Proteaceae) Cone Flower
Grown by Patricia Knight in Los Altos Hills: 
Leucadendrons are dioecious, evergreen shrubs native to South Africa. ‘Wilson’s Wonder’ is a male offspring from a L. salignum x laureolum cross made in New Zealand in the 1960’s and introduced in 1983. It is a bushy, compact grower to about 4 ft. high x 6 ft. wide with leathery, medium green leaves and bronzy-red stems. In winter and into early spring, the stems terminate in showy, creamy-yellow bracts that surround a cone-like cluster of small, rich yellow, flowers. The bracts are brightest when the flowers are maturing in mid to late winter and usually develop an orange-red blush as they age. Kerry recommended leucadendrons as beginner proteas for those of us who would like to give this challenging plant family a try. They’re relatively easy if given well-drained, lean soil in a sunny location. This cultivar is especially trouble-free, easy to cultivate, and is hardy to at least 20°F. Many of you were happy to learn that deer don’t like them.

~JND~ Resources: Am. Hort. Soc. A-Z Encyclopedia, Botanica, California Native Plants for the Garden, Flora, Native Treasures, Sunset Western Garden Book, and lots of websites.