Oleander.

Besides Ice Plant for Ground Cover, those pink shrubs, Oleanders, are Cal Trans favorite Highway decorum.

Oleanders are ubiquitous in California.

You'd think someone in Cal Trans could use a little imagination and plant a palm tree or something!

One would think Cal Trans would be planting more natives. Rather than plumbago, why not a ceaonthus? (Gets down from soapbox.)

We had a lot of the oleanders die, or just look terrible, along I-5 up here in the "north", probably from the glassy-winged sharpshooter spreading that disease (Pierce's disease?). I noticed there seem to be more bottlebrushes now, which I also like.

Brenda

In the Bay Area we get ceanothus and redbuds on some medians, which are nice flowering native plants. We get oleander too though. It really is a perfect plant for the situation.
With the state budget imbroglio, I don't think CalTrans is getting any money to vary or upgrade the landscaping anytime soon.

I remember about 5 or 6 years ago when they finished a freeway extension in the SanJose Area running from Cupertino down toward the 101 going South, they really did a fine job of landscaping with flowers, creating floral designs, etc.

Problem was that all the rubber neckers and lookie lous raised the accident rate so high that the freeway was about to become useless and they had to tear all the flowers out.

I like the native plant idea though.

Oleander is very poisonous!

The Oleanders down the middle of I5 are bushy enough to help keep the headlights from approching cars from shining in our eyes when we drive the freeway at night. They seem to thrive on neglect plus they are pretty. It's over 100 up here right now and the Oleanders arn't wilting. That's one tough bush!
Donna in hot Orland

The Oleanders down the center of 99 are quite attractive........ until someone decides to "prune" them (read hack them up with some machine,) then they look cr@ppy. Poor things.

Around here they seem to be using more natives.... AND.... ground roses!

Brenda,

The gwss hasn't yet made it north of Kern county.

ninjabut,

Oleander is toxic, but if you are close enough to the ones in the freeway median to eat the leaves, I can think of more immediate health risks :-).

Ryan

Ryan, actually, according to the site below, it's made it as far north as Sacramento Co., with many other counties being at risk for the spread of Pierce's disease. However, something else must have killed my folks' oleanders up in Shasta Co. :D

Brenda

Here is a link that might be useful: UCR GWSS resources

Wow Brenda,

Thanks for the link, looks like the website I referenced is a bit out of date.

Ryan

Hi,

I'm new to California (originally from PA) and I would really like to know a few of the native plants that could be planted along California's highways. Mostly round San Francisco and LA. If anyone knows I'm very interested to hear more beautiful facts about Cali.

Thanks

There are many, many California natives used for landscaping along freeways here. Coast Redwoods are ubiquitous, Pinus radiata, contorta and Cupressus macrocarpa are also used here in the Bay Area. Large native shrubs incude various Arctostaphylos, Ceanothus, Fremontodendron, Heteromeles arbutifolia are also fairly common. More California natives aren't used because many such as species Arctostaphylos and Ceanothus are not particularly long lived or smog resistant, or highly adaptable across multiple microclimates. There are plenty more large shrub/small tree species that could be used, such as Cercis, Calycanthus, Myrica, etc.

I have seen Caltrans moving from Oleanders to Bottlebrush in some of the new segments of HWY 99. Also, I think the variety of plants depends on which CalTrans office is the one doing the landscaping. Central CA projects, specifically around Fresno and Visalia, have Ceanothus, Cercis and Valley Oak along with deer grass and non-natives like bottlebrush and acacia trees. Older projects mainly have oleanders, bottlebrush, eucalyptus and ice plant.

I miss the oleanders. Sniff.

I had a gorgeous mature oleander hedge along the north fenceline of my back yard (I live on a corner). It was killed by the oleander leaf scorch disease ( I guess that`s the one they're calling Pierce`s now). It was a pain pulling out the dead bushes. That was years ago and now the plantain have put in its place are just now getting large enough to provide some privacy. The only plants that have done particularly well there are cape honeysuckle, Lady Banks rose and California rose. Everything else sulks or dies.

I was told that oleanders have no use to nature- nothing dares to eat it, birds don't nest in it. The only thing I ever saw on ours was a row of lacewing eggs on one leaf.
When we removed that oleander we had to use our Chevy Suburban to pull it out. Amazing roots! Min