I've been having an ongoing relationship with this plant all my life. As a native Californian (born in San Francisco and now living in So. Cal.) I have many childhood memories of this plant from weekend hikes around the bay area and summer camping trips through out California. When deciding about which plants to include for my re-landscaping project, manzanitas naturally came to mind. What I didn't realize is how super site-specific they are and how they are not the fool-proof dry climate plant I expected them to be. The bushier "Sunset" hybrid variety and the creepers are all doing fine but the larger tree-sized, beautifully branched ideal specimen has been highly elusive. (I've sadly lost two beauties in the first growing season). If you're tempted to plant these natives, be sure to choose the variety that is endemic to your locale. This really should have been very obvious to me, but somehow I equated all manzanitas with "the perfect plant" for the dry and gravelly strip alongside our driveway. Now that I have blooms on one and see growth tips on the other I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the other two tree-like specimens are going to make it :~)
I, too, love manzanitas and we've just planted three new ones in our front yard!
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