Island Mountain Mahogany

Cercocarpus betuloides var. blancheae

Summary

Overall these produced a really handsome, dense, tall shrub in 2 years.  They would fit the niche of a tall, narrow hedge material quite well. Though the flowers were mostly inconspicuous, the seed heads gave the appearance of a general hairiness for weeks on the plants that flowered heavily.  We found it interesting, but others might not find it attractive.  All treatments had at least a couple of plants that flowered and produced seed heads. Some plants did not flower at all, and those that did seemed to suffer temporary yellowing and some scattered branch dieback immediately following seed set, possibly due to using up reserves.  Plants might benefit qualitatively from shearing before seed set.

There were no significant differences in growth between treatments. Though high water certainly didn’t harm this species, it performed so well on the lower levels of 20% and 40% of ETo (equating to monthly and 2 irrigations during its trial year), we definitely recommend providing no more than monthly deep watering during the summer once established.

Growth and Quality Data

Click Here for Complete Data Set