Arctostaphylos manzanita Dr. Hurd Manzanita Tree

Identification

Description

Dr. Hurd Manzanita is an evergreen multi-branched, treelike shrub with glossy, light green foliage and grows up to 15', one of the biggest of the big manzanitas. Here in the central coast ranges and farther south this manzanita is much more garden tolerant, i.e. it can handle some summer water and a richer soil, than Arctostaphylos glauca, its southern counterpart (If you do overwater during the summer expect to lose about 10- 20% of your planting each summer after the 3rd year.) Dr. Hurd requires sun, and good drainage for its best growth. It's also very drought tolerant and has light brown-red bark. It survived here 5 foot away from a Madrone that froze and was about as hardy as incense cedars, somewhere around 0 degrees F. It has survived here and looked good with no water (only rainfall). It is not one of the faster manzanitas but is a reliable shrub that has a lot of good looks. It would do well as a specimen plant and focal point of a landscape. I would expect it to do well in all but the worst spots in the interior valleys. This form was found by John Coulter of the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation in 1972, growing in the garden of Dr. Cuthbert Hurd in Portola Valley (note sent to us by SHF 20 years ago). It was probably a seedling from Louis Edmunds Native Plant Nursery(one of the old native plant growers that was in Danville in the 1950's.)Concerning the origin of this plant, Saratoga Horticultural Foundation said, "Although this plant has obvious affinities with Arctostaphylos manzanita it is undoubtedly of hybrid origin". This was most likely a seedling collected within the hybrid swarm, of which Arctostaphylos manzanita, and Arctostaphylos stanfordiana, were members, in Sonoma County, California. We've seen Dr. Hurd manzanita survive next to the coast(not in salt spray) and up into some fairly high elevation gardens. If you dig out a shovel full of soil, fill the hole with water and it will drain in an hour or so, this manzanita will probably do fine. Ten or twelve hours may give this manzanita some problems. In the other extreme, it seems to do ok in beach sand.