Ongoing research

Berberis (barberry) is a genus of ornamental evergreen and deciduous shrubs that includes over 400 species, the majority of which come from the temperate zones of East Asia, the remaining from North and South America.

Ornamental blue fescue grasses have become a reliable accent in gardens, breaking up shades of dark green and inserting wispy texture in front of broad-leaved perennials and shrubs. All grasses in the Festuca genus are deer resistant.

Myrica californica, commonly called Pacific wax myrtle, is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Pacific coast and coastal valleys from the Santa Monica Mountains north to Vancouver Island in Washington.

The genus Rhamnus includes about 125 species, but only two are grown with frequency in Sonoma County gardens: Rhamnus alaternus, Italian buckthorn, and the local native Rhamnus californica, coffeeberry. Many, but not all nurseries are now labeling some Rhamnus plants as Frangula.

A handsome and distinctive shrub, Heteromeles arbutifolia seems quintessentially Californian. As legend goes, its distinctive holly-like red berries visible in hillside chaparral in Los Angeles gave rise to the name for Hollywood.

As fall settles in and deciduous trees show off glorious hues of yellow, orange, red and purple, one outstanding performer that often fails to get attention is Vitis californica, a native California wild grape and its relatives.

The Viburnum genus consists of more than 150 evergreen, semi-evergreen, and deciduous woody plants from the Caprifoliaceae family. Native mostly to Northern temperate zones, some viburnums also hail from South America and Southeast Asia.

Commonly called plumbago or leadwort, three of the common Ceratostigma species are evergreen shrubs; the fourth is a groundcover. They are among the few blue summer-flowering shrubs completely adaptable to Sonoma Countys Mediterranean climate.

Crape myrtles are shrubs and small trees indigenous to temperate and tropical regions from Asia to Australia. The myrtle in their name is a nod to the similarity of their leaf shape of a true myrtle (Myrtus).

Santolina chamaecyparissus from the Mediterranean Basin is commonly called lavender cotton, a confusing name with no connection to either lavender or cotton. The Latin derivation translates to holy flax in English, but that, too, is obscure.