Gardeners looking for a drought-tolerant and highly disease-resistant native shrub might consider adding the blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulean also known as Sambucus Mexicana) to their landscape. This species of elderberry is native to the West coast of North America at elevations ranging from sea level to 10,000 feet from Baja to British Columbia. Although it is drought tolerant, it can be considered riparian because it prefers moist locations near rivers or springs. It will also show itself to be particularly thankful for fertile, nitrogen-rich soils.

This elderberry's habitat ranges from desert to temperate rainforest, thriving in both full shade and full sun. In good growing conditions in the wild it can reach up to 30 feet high. Its growing habit creates a wide bramble that puts on a spectacular show of flowers and berries in season, but becomes a bit ratty as the summer heat wears on. 

The elderberry can be identified through its flowers in late spring, and bunches of blueish berries in mid to late-summer. Typically, hundreds of tiny flowers comprise what appears to be one light cream-colored flower in skyward-facing bunches.  A waxy coating on the purple berries gives them their blueish finish. Another distinctive characteristic is that the elderberry is among the first shrubs to show green shoots, sometimes in late fall after the first rains and even well before the California buckeye, another early blooming native.

The plant's flowers and berries are valuable for native wildlife. Nearly two dozen moths and butterflies seek the pollen from the fragrant cream-colored elderberry flower. The berries are an important source of food for native birds in California. Once birds eat the berries, they return the favor by helping the plant propagate, spreading the un-digested seeds far and wide.

According to UC Cooperative Extension advisor Rachael Long, the elderberry is one of several natives that provide nectar and pollen for native bees, honey bees, and other insects. “I see a lot of green lace wings (predators of aphids, spider mites and other pests) in elderberry” she notes. The berries are edible for humans if properly prepared. They contain a mild toxin which can easily be cooked out.

The berries and other parts of the elderberry have been valued for their medicinal properties for thousands of years. Modern medical research has established a scientific basis for some medicinal uses that warrant further research. Early Europeans made food and medicine from the berries, and musical instruments from the hollow elderberry branches. In the western hemisphere, Native peoples were using many parts of the plant, well before each culture was aware of the others' existence.

The elderberry gets its name from Anglo-Saxon words: “auld” or “ellarn”, meaning fire or kindle, because the hollow branches were used to direct air blown into kindling. Those hollow stems also led to their use as musical instruments, among these the "Sambuke" from which the genus name "Sambucus" was derived.

Elderberry references make cultural appearances spanning space and time. In Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus presented the gift of fire to man in a hollow elderberry branch. In our own time, it is the elder wand, fashioned in part from elderberry wood, which delivers a decisive blow for good over evil in the final chapter of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Blue elderberry grows extensively throughout Butte County, favoring streamside locations. For example, in Chico it can easily be found along Big and Little Chico Creeks and Lindo channel. In places along these waterways, there are nearly unbroken stretches of elderberry thickets. The elderberry's tenacity can be seen in the burn-scar area of Butte Creek canyon, where vigorous elderberry canes are re-emerging in profusion.

Blue Elderberry is the only host plant of the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus), a Federally Threatened species. This beetle's current California Fish & Wildlife Service status is “threatened” due to loss of habitat resulting from conversion of land to agriculture, grazing, and levee construction; competition from non-native species; and loss of land to development for recreational, industrial and urban purposes. The adult beetles eat elderberry leaves and flowers, and the larvae eat the pithy inside of the elderberry stem, where they live for part of their lives. Because of the “threatened” status of the beetle, and the fact that the blue elderberry shrub is its host plant (its habitat, so to speak), the elderberry shrub is protected from being disturbed, destroyed, removed, and even trimmed, if the branches are larger than 1 inch in diameter, since the beetle larvae could potentially be living inside branches of that size or larger. In your yard, the elderberry can be managed by pruning as long as the branches are smaller than 1 inch in diameter.  Small elderberry branches are hollow and pithy and fairly easy to cut.

If you have space in your yard for a hardy native shrub that will provide food for beneficial insects and pollinators, consider the elderberry. It's best to enjoy this multi-use shrub in a section of your yard where it will not be disturbed, and where it can grow to its full size (30 feet) without needing to be trimmed or moved.

UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system.  To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website.  If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.

Chilopsis linearis, the desert willow or desert catalpa, is prized in dry gardens for its showy, fragrant blossoms which cover the tree in summer.  When many native bloomers are past their spring glory and entering semi-dormancy to protect against heat and drought, the desert willow is just getting started; this tree loves the long hot days of summer.  It does best in full sun, becoming leggy and thin in part shade. It is extremely drought resistant and will succumb to root rot if not planted in a well- drained, seldom-irrigated location. In the wild, it will grow in certain riparian conditions, particularly in desert regions along streams, washes, and channels that are ephemeral, drying up between rains. Deciduous in winter, desert willows may shed some leaves in extreme summers to help conserve energy and food.

Since true willows love moist environments, “desert willow” is an oxymoron;  C. linearis is not a true willow but a relative of the catalpa tree and a member of the trumpet vine family (Bignoniaceae). But its leaves do mimic those of willows:  they are long and slender with smooth margins and waxy surfaces. The wax coating enables the tree to conserve water in the hot climates it prefers. The shape of the flowers, combined with the shape of its leaves, earned the desert willow its taxonomical name: Cheilos is Greek for lips, and opsis translates from Greek as “resembles.” The bright two-toned flowers (purple, lavender, or pink, with white) have the tubular, droopy-bottom-lip shape characteristic of trumpet vine blossoms.

Although the tree normally doesn't grow taller than 25 feet, the registry of Big Trees has recorded a specimen in Porterville that is 40 feet tall, with a canopy spread of 36 feet and a trunk circumference of just over six feet. That's pretty big for a tree billed by multiple sources as a “small accent tree” for native landscaping.

Once done blooming, the abundant and striking flowers develop into slender fruits that are six to ten inches long; many of these fruits will cling to the branches through winter to the following spring and then produce seeds with winged hairs. One source does note that the fallen pods can become a landscape nuisance.

There are many common names for this lovely tree: flowering willow, desert catalpa, willow-leaved catalpa, willowleaf catalpa, bow willow, flor de mimbre, and mimbre.  Mimbre is a Spanish word that is sometimes translated as willow or wicker, but technically means the twigs and sprigs of willow trees that were woven into baskets or furniture.

The desert willow is native to the Southwestern U.S. and Northern Mexico; its native range in California is restricted to the arid southern portions of our state, primarily San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The US Department of Agriculture notes that it can occur naturally as far east as southwest Kansas and eastern Oklahoma. Anywhere that's hot, sunny, dry, and not above 5,000 feet in elevation will support this hardy tree with a life span of between 40 and 150 years.

Native peoples derived medicine, food, clothing, basketry, and shelter from desert willow trees. As a pharmaceutical, the flowers, leaves, and bark were heated and pounded to make poultices and were also steeped to make a soothing tea for coughs. Tea from the flowers contains anti-oxidants for cardiovascular health and can regulate the metabolism of glucose. Flowers were also used as a prophylactic against yeast and fungal infections, and to help heal scratches and scrapes. Flowers did double duty as food, and seed pods were also eaten. But the real heavy lifting was done by the bark and branches of this multi-purpose tree. Bark was turned into fabric for clothing and cordage for nets. Once stripped of the bark, branches became the foundational coil for baskets. Mature wood was used to frame structures and granaries, as posts for fencing, and carved into bows for hunting. And although its thin leaves don't make the desert willow what one could call a shade tree, that commodity is in such short supply in deserts that travelers would rest under what shade it did offer. 

The desert willow planted at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden quite a few years ago does provide a little bit of shade to the succulents planted beneath it, but its real value lies in the rich blue-green of its leaves and the eye-catching color and shape of its sweet-smelling flowers. Where it occurs in nature, it creates the feeling of a small oasis in the middle of dry desert washes. As a landscape specimen, during summer heat it adds a lush look to the native, drought-resistant garden. It's a winning choice for a specimen tree.      

UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system.  To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website.  If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.

Redbuds in bloom are a most welcome harbinger of spring. Their dense clusters of magenta flowers bloom early, providing splashes of color against a winter landscape of browns and grays. Is the name redbud really the best our ancestors could come up with for this beautiful tree? How could they call that color “red”? Even Wikipedia manages a more accurate “pink to purple.” Other sources are more specific, identifying the brilliant flora as bright pink, rosy pink, magenta, or reddish purple.

The redbud's Latin name, Cercis, is equally pedestrian: it is taken from the Greek kerkis which means “a weaver's shuttle” and refers to the shape of the tree's seed pods. Both the tool and the seed pods (which are essentially fruits) are elongated ovals with gently pointed ends. Cercis is a member of the Fabaceae or pea family (technically a legume) and it bears the family resemblance both in its fruits, which in shape and size are dead ringers for snow peas, and in its flowers.

Cercis occidentalis is native to the arid western states.  It is commonly known asWestern or California redbud, and sometimes Arizona redbud. Occidentem is Latin for “western sky” or “part of the sky in which the sun sets,” derived from the Latin verb occido – “go down, set.” The Occident is the longitudinal opposite of the Orient, and many species from China and other eastern regions are termed orientalis. Somewhere along the line, C. occidentalis acquired the second or synonymous binomial C. orbiculatum. Orbiculate translates naturally enough as round or circular in shape (in this case, in reference to the redbud's leaves). And if you are thinking now of Judas Tree as a common name, that belongs to the Eastern redbud. (Interestingly, the Latin name of the Eastern redbud is C. canadensis. And yes, you guessed it: canadensis is used in taxonomy to denote species indigenous to or strongly associated with Canada). 

Enough fun with words: the focus here is on the Western redbud. This species is found in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. It typically is a small deciduous tree, more often a shrub, rarely reaching over 20 feet in height.  A notable exception to that is a C. occidentalis in Santa Rosa that is registered as a California Big Tree. It measures 45 feet high, has a trunk circumference of 71 inches, and a crown spread of 38 feet. Most specimens grow multi-stemmed trunks and develop a low, spreading, rounded or umbrella-shaped canopy of 10 to 20 feet in diameter. The Western redbud boasts a wildly variable life span, from 40 years all the way to 150.

A hardy plant, the redbud is drought tolerant, sun-loving, and successful in a variety of soils. Typically, it prefers rather harsh environments with marginal, well-drained soils. It grows best in chaparral ecosystems below 4,000 feet in elevation, and prefers canyon walls and other steep slopes. It can also be found in gravely and rocky soils along streams above their flood zone. Western redbud tolerates some seasonal water and will grow in the bottom of ephemeral streambeds in little pockets, as well as on foothill benches, or tucked into crannies created by boulder outcroppings.

Regionally, redbud takes root in the foothills and mountains of California. Locally, it dots the hillsides in Upper Bidwell Park and the western Sierra Nevada and Cascade foothills. One of its more striking attributes is its penchant for solitude, which is what makes it such a vibrant surprise when it blooms in late February/early March. Very seldom will it grow in groups or shrubby clumps, and then only in sheltered niches.  

Western redbud is a popular landscape tree on the valley floor precisely because of its impressive beauty, which isn't restricted to eye-catching floral displays. The rounded, heart-shaped leaves are a silky combination of copper and green when they first emerge, darkening to various shades of green, gray-green, or blue-green. According to the USDA, the Western redbud's “autumn display of yellow turning to red and brown rival that of some eastern hardwoods.” This plant sets its fruit in the form of thin dry seed pods in autumn. Each pod contains about seven hard, bean-like seeds. As they ripen, the pods change in color from purple to russet brown. (On some redbuds, the mature pods hang on the branches into the next winter.) Once the redbud has shed itself of leaves and pods, the bare branches provide winter beauty as a silver-gray silhouette.

The straight, pliable, burgundy-colored young shoots of the California redbud were prized by native basket weavers. Designs were woven into baskets with redbud shoots, and a faint reddish dye derived from the bark was used to tint finished baskets. To ensure a reliable supply of this valued material, California tribes regularly burned hillsides in the fall, after the redbuds had shed their leaves. Prior to European settlement, the western Mono, foothill Yokuts, and Miwok Native Americans of the central and southern Sierra Nevada foothills set autumn fires at intervals of one to several years to encourage sprouting. Today's basket artists prune the shrubs to encourage the new growth.

As a legume, redbud is an edible native. Native Americans enjoyed redbud flowers, young seed pods, and even young leaves, both raw and cooked. Apparently, redbud flowers taste almost as good as they look. Fully-opened flowers are somewhat tart and slightly sweet, and add interesting color and flavor (and Vitamin C!) to salads.

This beautiful and hardy native shrub is nowhere near as dull and plodding as its common name implies. While the redbud makes year-round contributions to the landscape, the Arbor Day Foundation correctly notes that “the sheer springtime beauty of the redbud may be its greatest hold on the American spirit.”

UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system.  To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website.  If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.

Ideally, you'd be reading this in very early spring, when the dogwood bloom is beginning to work its elegant magic in the older neighborhoods fanning out from Lower Bidwell Park and downtown Chico. Their flowers bloom before dogwoods leaf out, so the blooms appear to float, suspended on slender, graceful branches.  But now, although their bloom time is over for the year, the new foliage on dogwoods makes them attractive landscape trees, creating filtered shade in gardens and yards across town.

There are between 30 and 100 different species of Cornus (depending upon the source one consults).  These various species of dogwood are native throughout much of earth's temperate latitudes and boreal (subarctic) ecosystems of Eurasia and North America. China, Japan, and the southeastern United States are particularly rich in native species. The best known and most widely cultivated dogwood species include: common dogwood (C. sanguinea) of Eurasia; flowering dogwood (C. florida) of eastern North America; Pacific dogwood (C. nuttallii) of western North America: Kousa dogwood (C. kousa) of eastern Asia, and two low-growing boreal species, the Canadian and Eurasian dwarf cornels (or bunchberries), C. canadensis and C. suecica respectively.  This article focuses on two species that do particularly well in our area: Pacific dogwood and flowering dogwood.

General Characteristics: Dogwood trees are on the small side, ranging between 15 to 40 or so feet high. Typically, trunks are one foot or less in diameter, and often sport multiple stems. They provide four full seasons of delight: spring flowers, summer leaves, fall color and berries, and once all of those have dropped off in winter, the trunk displays a distinctive patterned bark and a pleasing rounded form with horizontal branching.

What we see as “flower petals” on the dogwood are technically bracts (modified or specialized leaves) surrounding a bunch of very small, tightly clustered umbel shaped flowers. The leaf itself is a simple, untoothed bit of beauty, distinctive for its visible veins curving as they extend to the margins of the leaf. In fall, the leaves change to an attractive reddish-purple or reddish-brown before dropping. Its bright colored berries are actually drupes, a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing multiple seeds. These “berries” provide food to many bird species, and are also utilized by some butterflies and moths. Depending on the species, berries range from very tart and mildly toxic to humans, to tasteless, to slightly sweet and somewhat palatable.

Cornus florida: The flowering dogwood is a popular landscape tree throughout the United States, and is commonly seen here in Chico and our surrounding area. The species name florida or florido is Spanish for “full of flowers” or “flowery”. Native to the Eastern US and northern Mexico, flowering dogwood attains its greatest size, up to 40 feet tall, in the Upper South where hot, humid summers contribute to new, lush growth. In other climates, such as ours, heights of 30–33 feet are more typical. This dogwood species' life span tops out at about 80 years. While its berries, ranging from bright red to yellow with a rosy blush, taste awful to humans, they are not toxic, and are an important source of food for many birds.

When in the wild, flowering dogwood can typically be found decorating the understory of forest edges, and can also occur on dry ridges. Most of the wild trees have white bracts, but some range from pink to rosy to an almost true red.

Cornus nuttallii: The species name of the Pacific dogwood honors Thomas Nuttall, an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 to 1841. Nuttall travelled widely and published a number of books on North American plants and birds. Almost 100 plant and animal species bear his name. 

Nuttall's namesake dogwood species is commonly known as western dogwood, mountain dogwood, and Pacific mountain dogwood, as well as Pacific dogwood. This species is native to a large swath of western North America, sweeping down the continent from southern British Columbia to southern California, with an isolated population cropping up in central Idaho. On a California map, its distribution pattern looks like a large cane. The short, hooked end starts in the coast range north of the San Francisco Bay, thickening as it bends east through the Klamath and Siskiyou mountains, with the straight side of the cane extending south through the western slopes of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada mountains to the southern end of the great Central Valley. A small distribution also occurs in the southwestern corner of the state.

Pacific dogwood thrives under the canopy of California's mountain forests. When in bloom, flowers hover like lace in the shadows of taller conifers and hardwoods, reaching out for sunlight. While the bracts appear white from a distance, they are actually white tinged with a lovely pale green, and the densely packed, tiny flowers they encircle are also greenish-white. The pink-red drupe can contain up to 100 seeds. The fruit provides sustenance in autumn and sometimes early winter, to small mammals and birds such as grosbeaks, cedar waxwings, and woodpeckers. 

Besides its timeless aesthetic appeal, the Pacific dogwood has various utilitarian functions.  It was an important plant for the Native tribes of the continent's west coast. Medicinally, the bark was used as a laxative, a tonic, an antiseptic, and for relief of stomach pain. Peeled twigs provided natural toothbrushes, and smaller branches were sometimes used in baskets. Today the wood of the Pacific dogwood is often used for fashioning items such as tool handles and cutting boards because of its hard, strong wood and beautiful tight grain. It has also been used to make thread spindles, golf club heads, and piano keys.

Dogwood is a curious name for a tree. But “dogwood” is actually this tree's third-generation common name. In the 14^th century it was called the “whipple-tree” – a whipple being a straight piece of wood linking the drawpole of a horse cart to the harnesses of the horses. By the early 15^th century the name had shifted to “dagwood,” because its slender and very hard wood stems were used to create “dags” (daggers, skewers, and arrows).  Over time, the “a” in “dagwood” became pronounced and written as an “o,” giving us “dogwood” as the final common name for all species of Cornus.

I love the ethereal beauty of the dogwood.  Since a large number of cultivated dogwood trees grace our area, evidently so do many others. In fact, dogwood was among the top choices for America's National Tree in a nationwide survey hosted by the Arbor Day Foundation, coming in third behind the oak and redwood: a very respectable ranking!

UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system.  To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website.  If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.