by Laurie Budash
This is the fourth article describing plants and their care featured in the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County's low-water, low-maintenance area of Las Flores Learning Garden. The plants we will talk about in this article are the glossy abelia, Little Sur manzanita and amber carpet rose.
These variegated evergreen compact shrubs have wonderful showy color and a moderate growth rate, reaching 2 feet x 3 feet high and wide. The glossy oval leaves emerge bright yellow and lime green on red stems in spring, turn yellow in summer and take on a glowing orange and fiery red hue in the fall. The color intensifies as the summer progresses. Plant in full sun to part sun with at least four hours of sunlight in well-drained soil. These plants not only provide interest with constantly changing leaf color, but add to the show with pink buds, and by early fall, small blooms that turn white. The glossy abelia has average water needs with more water needed in drought conditions. The shrubs are very disease-, pest- and deer-resistant. Being very low-maintenance, these plants only need shaping in late winter or early spring for the most part. If large scale reduction is required, wait until the third growing season to do so. Select the three longest, thickest interior stems and snip them off near ground level, then continue pruning stems in a random, natural-looking pattern until you have removed up to one third of the plant. To avoid stressing the plant, prune only one third a year. The abelia produces flowers on new growth only, so don't prune back the plant after any new growth begins. These lovely plants attract many pollinators, including bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
These low growing, spreading unassuming plants are perfect for low-water and low-maintenance landscapes. The Little Sur manzanita grows 1-4 feet high by 6-12 feet wide and has evergreen leathery dark-green leaves. This California native plant has rounded oval leaves that are shiny. New growth is often reddish or bronze. The plant prefers full or part sun and sandy soil, but it can tolerate clay soil. Propagate with softwood cuttings. Being drought-tolerant, once established, the plant needs watering only twice a month during the dry season. Disease-, pest- and deer-resistant, it can get a fungal pathogen on branches that should be cut out with pruners that have been sterilized between each cut. Small pink flower clusters appear in spring, turning into red berries as summer progresses. The red berries turn reddish brown in the winter and provide food for birds. The birds, along with various bees, butterflies and hummingbirds find this virtually maintenance-free plant a great food source.
An easy-care ground cover rose with abundant, remarkably fragrant amber-colored flowers. Growing to 2-3 feet high and 3-4 feet wide, this ground cover rose is bred to be heat- and humidity-tolerant as well as disease-resistant. Beautiful in containers and mass plantings, this deciduous rose prefers full sun, well-draining soil. Water requirement is low, needing watering only when the top three inches of the surrounding soil is dry. Blooming in great mounds in the spring, the flowers start out tightly furled, opening to a lovely bronze amber and then fading to light apricot color. Like other roses, the amber carpet rose is prone to black spot and mildew, but these can be managed with a judicious watering program to prevent stress. This rose only needs shaping using hand pruners or shears, with no need to remove old leaves or to be concerned about pruning at bud nodes. Bees and hummingbirds enjoy its flowers all through the growing season.
Once established, all three of these plants require little water and maintenance. In addition, they can be counted on to provide visual interest at various points throughout the year.
The UC Master Gardeners and the City of Napa have joined in a partnership at the Las Flores Community Center, where instructional events are planned for the last Saturday of the month through 2022. Topics will center on research-based horticultural and climate change issues by featuring water-saving plants and soil care.
We hope that you enjoyed this 4-part series on the low-water, low-maintenance plants that provide color all throughout the year in the Las Flores Learning Garden. Stop by the garden at 4300 Linda Vista Ave. to see these plants and observe as this wonderful community asset matures.
Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143. Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.
Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.
Photo credits: Olga Morham
Information links:
Glossy Abelia http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/abelia.html
Little Sur Manzanita https://calscape.org/Arctostaphylos-edmundsii-'Carmel-Sur'-(Carmel-Sur-Little-Sur-Manzanita)
Roses https://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/Landscape_Trees/Roses_are_Special/
