Gardening Guides
Great Design Plant: Toyon
Grow this fuss-free California native for beautiful winter color indoors and out
Everyone loves to bring pieces of the landscape indoors for the holidays — potted pointsettas, evergreen garlands and trees decorate the house annually. This year, consider Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia). Its festive red berries and long arching branches will beautify any holiday table, and its low-maintenance grandeur and environmental benefits will enhance the landscape year round.
Designer Cassy Aoyagi of FormLA Landscaping advocates using Toyon as a water-wise holiday color alternative, noting the “lovely Toyon has a broad range throughout California — from coastal sage to chaparral and oak woodland plant communities, making it incredibly diverse in nature and adaptable in our own gardens.”
Designer Cassy Aoyagi of FormLA Landscaping advocates using Toyon as a water-wise holiday color alternative, noting the “lovely Toyon has a broad range throughout California — from coastal sage to chaparral and oak woodland plant communities, making it incredibly diverse in nature and adaptable in our own gardens.”
Distinguishing traits. A freely branching evergreen shrub, Toyon’s untamed appearance harkens to its native environment.Glossy, dark green toothed leaves and low branching structure exude an almost feral nature, but make this treelike shrub a versatile landscape addition.
Profuse small white blooms appear in summer, softening Toyon’s appearance.
Profuse small white blooms appear in summer, softening Toyon’s appearance.
Fall welcomes the beautifully festive berries Toyon is known for, lasting well through autumn and winter.
How to use it. Found in the coastal ranges and Sierra Nevada foothills of California, Toyon has been used extensively in native restoration projects in the state. It can just as easily serve your own landscape rehabilitation projec,t as they work well as slope stabilizers and erosion control.
Multi-branched treelike shrubs are very versatile when it comes to landscape implementations, and Toyon is no different. Toyon can be trained to be more of an upright open tree or can be allowed to grow naturally to form a dense screen or hedge. Toyon “creates a lush green background, counter-intuitive to our expectations about the appearance of low-water plants,” Aoyagi says.
Multi-branched treelike shrubs are very versatile when it comes to landscape implementations, and Toyon is no different. Toyon can be trained to be more of an upright open tree or can be allowed to grow naturally to form a dense screen or hedge. Toyon “creates a lush green background, counter-intuitive to our expectations about the appearance of low-water plants,” Aoyagi says.
For the holidays, Toyon’s berry-covered branches provide easy and elegant decorations as demonstrated in this wreath by Bay Natives Nursery. (More adventurous folks have even used Toyon's berries in pies, jams and teas.)
Toyon is a generally fuss-free and long-lived plant sure to augment your landscape and add holiday interest to your home for many years. Even in the dry chaparral landscape, Toyon has evolved to survive and thrive.
Before you plant. Toyon can be susceptible to fireblight — an incurable disease covering bark and leaves that can be brought on through overwatering. Plant in well-drained soil, and any infected branches if you see signs of disease.
And while these shrubs may appear weak for the first couple of years, they are hardy to -5 degrees Fahrenheit and can survive mild summers without much watering.
More great design plants:
Black Mondo Grass | Feather Reed Grass | New Zealand Wind Grass | Red Kangaroo Paw | Blue Chalk Sticks | Catmint | Slipper Plant
Great design trees:
Manzanita | Japanese Maple | Persian Ironwood | Smoke Tree | Bald Cypress | Tree Aloe
Before you plant. Toyon can be susceptible to fireblight — an incurable disease covering bark and leaves that can be brought on through overwatering. Plant in well-drained soil, and any infected branches if you see signs of disease.
And while these shrubs may appear weak for the first couple of years, they are hardy to -5 degrees Fahrenheit and can survive mild summers without much watering.
More great design plants:
Black Mondo Grass | Feather Reed Grass | New Zealand Wind Grass | Red Kangaroo Paw | Blue Chalk Sticks | Catmint | Slipper Plant
Great design trees:
Manzanita | Japanese Maple | Persian Ironwood | Smoke Tree | Bald Cypress | Tree Aloe
Common names: Toyon, California Christmas berry, Christmas berry, California holly, Hollywood, Christmasberry, California Christmasberry
USDA zones: 7-10
Water requirement: Drought tolerant once established; appearance improved with moderate irrigation
Sun requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Mature size: Dense shrub 6-10’ tall; broad or multi trunked tree 15-25’ tall
Tolerances: Drought, fire retardant
Environmental benefits: Berries attract birds and wildlife; flowers attract bees; erosion control