Plant of the Month
0Toyon, Christmas Berry
Heteromeles arbutifolia
- Plant Form: Evergreen shrub/tree
- Water Use: Low
- Mature Size: 8-15 (to 25) ft. tall x 8-10 ft. wide
- Exposure: Full sun, part sun
- Bloom Time: Summer (June – Aug)
- Native to: So. California
- Hardiness: Cold hardy to 0°F
Toyon adds many beneficial aspects to southwest landscapes. Besides its wildlife value and drought resistance, it makes a great natural hedge or screen, stabilizes slopes and controls erosion, is low maintenance, and requires little water after established. Its seasonal red berries are a popular decoration in wreaths, on mantels, in centerpieces, or anywhere you want to add holiday cheer and color.
Toyon, also called Christmas Berry and California Holly, is a very giving evergreen shrub or small tree from California’s chaparral communities. The city of Hollywood was named after this plant. This very adaptable, dense shrub is valued for its holly-like foliage, clusters of white flowers in summer, and showy bright red berries all winter that are popular for Christmas decorations and relished by birds. Fire resistant if watered every 2 weeks during spring and summer. The early California landscape architect, Ralph Cornell, wrote about Toyon, noting that any plant that encourages bird life, supplies the bees with an unexcelled source of honey, gives food to humans, furnishes tannin from its bark, protects arid slopes from erosion, paints the landscape with vivid colors, and carries joy into the home at Christmas time, when no other berries are available to most Californians, surely deserves the protection of humans, whom it serves so well. Toyon can be pruned into a handsome tree, or left in its natural form for a dense evergreen border or privacy screen as a native substitute for oleander.
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